Capitol Hill Blue launches a new section this week: Politics on the Half-Shell, a raw bar of spicy news, gossip and speculation on what may or may not be happening with our elected officials.

As the name implies, Politics on the Half Shell is news on the raw, a place for commentary, speculation and others items that might not qualify as a full news story but is worthy of mention and comment.

This is not a revival of our recent blog experiment, although you will find the archives of our previous blog on the site as well.  It is, instead, an attempt by our staff to serve up a spicy dish of tidbits that may not have a place elsewhere on our web site and to invite readers to comment and speculate along with us.

All members of the Capitol Hill Blue editorial staff will contribute to Politics on the Half-Shell. When information cannot be confirmed to conform with established practices of journalism, we will say so. If it's rumor, we will call it that. If it's innuendo we will admit it.

Why do it this way? Why not?  So much of what passes as news today is, in reality, just gossip or biased news passed on by someone with an agenda. Why not have a place where such information is listed for what it is -- salacious material that may or may not be true but makes delicious reading anyway. Our rules are simple. There are no rules. Our only requirement is to have some fun.

Welcome to Politics on the Half-Shell. If it's raw, we serve it here and we serve it spicy.