When I changed the structure of this site a couple of weeks ago by removing some pages and adding new ones, I considered having a static front page and the blog a separate area of the site. My initial thinking was that the front page should promote my professional services and that the blog should not be the primary focus. Ultimately, I decided to leave the blog as the main page because it highlights many of the things that I can do with WordPress and ideas that I am working on.
There are, however, reasons to have a static front page with WordPress and to have it set-up like a standard website with the blog being one part of it. I especially see this as working well for small businesses. For example, a childcare center could use WordPress for their website and have their main information as a static front page and then use the blog to highlight news, dates the center is closed, and parenting tips.