After we returned at the end of September from a wonderful vacation drive across 14 states and Ontario, I decided to shift the focus of my almost seven-year-old blog to the Colorado gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races from my focus on investing, speculating, the options markets and economics. Of course, I continue to blog on the markets and on health care markets and politics, as I have since I started this venture. As always, my goal is to add perspective and information to the issues that I cover. And, I love to give my opinions.

It’s hard to measure the quality of what appears on a blog or in the media. Everyone reads differently, which is why we have so many different opinions in politics and in the markets. Certainly, quantity is no measure of quality, but it does show the effort and time that goes into researching, reporting and understanding what’s going on.

Thus, after a rather slow first three quarters, in the fourth quarter of 2009, I wrote 435 blog posts, bringing my total for the year to 713. Since I began the blog, I’ve written 3,196 blog posts.

Often, I mention several people in a story.  A keyword search of this site shows that over the last couple of years or so, I’ve mentioned Obama in 205 blogs and Colorado’s Governor Bill Ritter in 121. Since September, I’ve mentioned Scott McInnis in 116 stories and Dan Maes in 53. Sen. Michael Bennet has been mentioned in 68 posts, Sen. Mark Udall 15, Jane Norton 49, Ken Buck 24 and Tom Wiens 13. During 2009, “Tea Party” has been mentioned in 13 posts and ObamaCare in 61. In almost seven years, “health care” has been in 725 posts, “Medicare” in 590, “health insurance” in 422, “insurance” in 554, “stocks” in 322, “markets” in 283 and “Colorado” in 347.

In addition to what I write here, I also post two or three times a day elsewhere. Mostly, I post in the comments sections on other blogs such as RockyMountainRight.com and on other Colorado conservatives’ blogs that belong to the Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.  I frequently post on wsj.com, Politico, Huffington Post, nytimes.com, barrons.com, denverpost.com and washingtonpost.com. I also post on Twitter and talk with friends on Facebook. SeekingAlpha.com also republishes my stories about stocks and speculating when I submit them. 

Why do I do it? I care about what’s happening to our country, and I enjoy following current events, especially politics and the markets. Writing a blog makes me research the big issues and do some original reporting. It helps me think about what’s going on. And I hope I add something to the conversation.

Thanks for reading.