I started TalkLeft in 1999 as a website with political links. It was intended to be a companion to one of my other sites, CrimeLynx. Here's what it looked like. On June 15, 2002, I converted it to a blog. Here is my first post.

Our tagline since day 1 has been "The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles" from Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues.

My first blog buddies were Instapundit, Eric Alterman (who wrote MSNBC's Altercation at the time), Steve of Vodkapundit, Markos of Daily Kos and Atrios.

A few months after I started it, Markos offered to convert TalkLeft from Blogger to Movable Type and do a complete redesign. It took him a month. Here's what TalkLeft looked like for the next few years. That daily news feed on the left hand side? I spent at least an hour a night hand selecting the articles from the next day's papers around the country. I wish I still had the time to do it now, as none of the commercial news services provide such topically targeted feeds.

Here's a basic chronology:

• June 15, 2002, First Post.

• August 14, 2002, Talkleft's first bloglift (re-design, yes I coined that phrase), courtesy of Markos of Daily Kos who spent untold hours on it.

• October 18, 2002, I begin guest-blogging at Altercation in Eric Alterman's absence.

• November 13, 2002, TalkLeft begins accepting donations and explains why.

• November 29, 2002, I blog from Shanghai for a few days.

• January 2, 2003, TalkLeft wins the Koufax "best single issues" blog award and gets blocked by law firms across the country which use censor-software.As a result, I instituted a policy you are all familiar with: no profanity, no graphic or explicit talk. Five days later, we were unblocked.

• June 15, 2003, our first blogiversay, TalkLeft had received 625,000 visitors and 1 million page views.

• September 27, 2003, TalkLeft has its 1,000,000 visitor.

• December 13, 2003, TChris joins TalkLeft as a guest blogger. Thanks, TChris.

• February 17, 2004, TalkLeft wins its second Koufax Blogging Award for Best Single Issues Blog.

• March 17, 2004, TalkLeft gets its 2,000,000 visitor. By July 19, 2004, it was 3 million. By January, 2005 it was 5 million.

• April 8, 2004, TalkLeft begins taking Blogads.

• October 18, 2004, TalkLeft institutes an anti-chattering policy in its comments.

• February 23, 2005, TalkLeft wins its third in a row Koufax Blogging Award for Best Single Issues Blog.

• March 11, 2005, TalkLeft writes its 10,000th post.

• July 8, 2005, Last Night in Little Rock begins blogging at TalkLeft.

• January, 2006, our Man in Hollywood, CL, who wishes to remain anonymous, begins making exclusive graphics for TalkLeft. You can view an assortment of his great work on my facebook page here.

• January 26, 2006, I get invited to and accept a free bloggers' trip to Amsterdam, courtesy of the Holland Tourism Department.

• October 1, 2006: Big Tent Democrat joins TalkLeft.

• October 15, 2006, TalkLeft moves to Scoop.

Along the way, I got to cover the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston and the Republican convention in New York; live-blog the Scooter Libby trial in Washington, DC; meet great people and make great friends in the blogosphere and the policy and political realms.

One of the most exciting days I've had as a blogger: when Bill Clinton brings a bunch of us into New York for a get-together with him at his Harlem office.

As of today, TalkLeft has had more than 24 million visitors and 50 million page views. The average length of each visit to TalkLeft is over 5 minutes.

I had no idea when I sat at the computer one weekend in June, 2002 to create a blog that I'd still be doing this six years later. But, here we are.

A very special thanks to TChris and Big Tent Democrat who are just as much a part of TalkLeft as I am, and to CL for his graphics.

Last but certainly not least, thanks to every one of you who have read a page, posted a comment, given me a news tip, linked to TalkLeft, donated dollars (and two laptops) and befriended me. You've made it all worthwhile.