Welcome to the hard launch of Colorado Politics, a place we hope will become your first click for news and insight. We’ve been up-and-running since just before the election, building this thing from scratch, and now we’re ready to push the pedal on columns, video packages and statewide political reporting we’re confident will distinguish us.

Colorado Politics aims to drive the political conversation across the state not by telling people what to think, but the issues they should think about. We want to be the place in the middle of a big square state, because the common good is built on common ground.

There is a need and a market for that. So far, we have been astonished by the number of clicks we’ve amassed in two months with little promotion, beyond social media and my promises to hand-wax cars in exchange for clicks.

That changes this week. The legislative session begins Wednesday, so it’s game on, even while we’re still building.

Let me tell you who we are and what we promise.

We are the most experienced, energetic and the deepest roster of political reporting talent in the state. Other news organizations could measure their experience in months. We measure ours in decades.

The six of us directly involved in Colorado Politics have a collective 154 years in journalism, 82 of those in Colorado.

While other news organizations shrink the footprint of their coverage for a “hyper-local” philosophy,  ours is statewide. Our philosophy is hyper-Colorado.

We are not the politics page of The Gazette in Colorado Springs. We are a stand-alone website, free of charge. Like The Gazette, we are under the umbrella of Denver-based Clarity Media, so family gets first crack at using our content. We also share the leadership of editor Vince Bzdek and managing editor Jim Trotter.

Rangely-born, Vince came home to Colorado from the Washington Post last year. His editorial roots also run through the Denver Post and the local newspaper his family ran in Brush.  An English major consumed by the school paper at Colorado College, Vince wore No. 24 on the Tigers basketball team.

Jim has led investigative teams for Rocky Mountain PBS and The Rocky Mountain News. He oversaw and edited a project for the Rocky that won two Pulitzers, and he led Associated Press reporters in 13 Western states. http://gazette.com/award-winning-journalist-jim-trotter-hired-to-run-gazette-newsroom-in-colorado-springs/article/1583949  On the other hand, Jim is a University of Tennessee football fan, just like Woody Paige. Roll Tide.

We’re lucky to have Mary MacCarthy, a former reporter and anchor for France 24 who decided to come home to Colorado. Besides what she can do behind and in front of the camera for our digital platform, Mary is an exceptional writer who will keep watch on how national and international politics come home to Colorado.

We are independent, first and foremost. We don’t have an editorial page, and we don’t have a political tilt. Our columnists are analysts, not spin doctors.

We think a growing stable of experienced, insightful columnists across the political spectrum is important, as our competitors have cut them out almost entirely. Information is in excess in the digital age, while wisdom gets harder to find.

Their offerings will appear under our regular feature, “Insights,” along with our own staff’s effort to provide deeper context to major issues. I will usually write for Mondays, Media coordinator Dan Njegomir’s work posts on Wednesdays, and Peter Marcus bats cleanup on Fridays.

I’m the senior political correspondent. The experiences in my saddlebags include covering Colorado’s water and environment, Denver’s pregnant suburbs and struggling plains, the national gaming industry and small-town news and sports. I covered politics and civil rights in the Deep South. I’ve been roughed up a little by the KKK in Alabama, and protested by the Klan  in Mississippi.

Dan is a former editorial page editor of the Gazette, who brings a wealth of writing talent, an eye for online detail and an insider’s perspective as a former adviser to state Senate Republicans. He ranks among the most interesting and likable people I’ve ever met, which is no small feat.

Peter, our senior statehouse reporter, is the son of a New York City cop. He’s the kind of gum-shoe journalist you don’t meet much anymore. Pete reliably stands up for what’s right over what’s flashy. Because of that, he breaks stories with the ease others use to pour coffee.

For the Durango Herald, he owned the unfolding Gold King Mine story in 2015. He convinced the governor to drink polluted water from the Animas River to prove it’s safe. 

We will do our best to be entertaining, as well as informative. Politics is fun. People treat it like war, when it’s really just volleyball.

And you can take some chances when you’re starting at nothing and figuring it out.