John Livingston stopped blogging when he began studying for the bar.

As a third-year law student, Livingston and classmate Lance McCord started BlueNC with James Protzman. His inspiration was George W. Bush's win in 2004.

A native of Florida, Livingston, 27, said he spent the first few months getting up to speed on North Caorlina politics. One of his major issues was the creation of large landfills in the southern part of the state, where he has a few relatives and friends.

He posted under the screen name TarGator, a reference to his time in Florida and at UNC-Chapel Hill.

By the summer of 2006, Livingston said he didn't have time to blog between studying for the bar and starting a new job as a real estate attorney for Kilpatrick Stockton in Raleigh — coincidentally, the same firm where McCord now works.

"I wasn't able to be involved in it day to day, and there were other people who were more knowledgeable," he said.

He still has front-page privileges, but he rarely uses them and he hasn't written in months. Still, Livingston said he reads the site every day and occasionally adds his two cents in the comments thread.

Lance McCord helped start BlueNC, but he's no longer active.

As a second-year law student at UNC-Chapel Hill, McCord was inspired to start a political blog by reading Crooked Timber, a blog run by a group of academics.

He asked his friends who might be a good partner, and James Protzman's name came up. Along with fellow law student John Livingston, the three started BlueNC in March of 2006 after a single face-to-face meeting at a coffee shop in Research Triangle Park.

McCord, who blogged as Lance, was originally interested in national politics, but he said his interest shifted because of BlueNC's relentless focus on state politics.

"I had a realization that the politics that mattered in most peoples lives were local," he said.

After graduating in 2007, McCord took a job as a corporate attorney with Kilpatrick Stockton in Atlanta. After the birth of his daughter last year, he stopped blogging entirely.

"New job, new town, new baby," he said. "Something had to go, and BlueNC was it."