On Sunday, The Florida Squeeze passed 1,000,000 overall page views since we launched in late February 2013. I want to personally thank each and everyone who has written for this site in the last 21 months (in no particular order) – Ryan Ray, Katy Burnett, Sean Sorbie, Lauren Schwartz, Justin Snyder, Scott Gaillard, Nathan Taylor Pemberton, Dave Trotter and Steven Kurlander.

I also want to thank those who have written and arranged special contributions for us including Common Cause Florida, Dr. Rachel Pienta and Brook Hines. Those who have actively promoted us including Progress Florida, Saint Petersblog, Susan Smith and the Democratic Progressive Caucus as well as numerous Democratic elected and party officials, I also sincerely thank.

One special mention of a person to thank I also want to make – my good friend Amy Ritter really pushed me hard to start this site even doing some of the initial legwork for me. Even when we  have disagreed on substance, she has been incredibly supportive of my efforts from the word go. These past several months, while I was on the Sheldon Campaign, no one outside my family held my hand and gave me the support and strength to get by on a daily basis the way Amy did, and for that and everything else I am eternally grateful.

As a personal aside, I apologize to all our readers for the lack of coverage in spots during the campaign. Since I was a senior staff member on the Sheldon Campaign, Ryan Ray was a Regional Field Director for Gwen Graham and Katy Burnett had lots of school obligations, we simply didn’t cover the daily aspect of the election particularly in October as well we wanted to. But with the campaigns over and our writers now fully engaged again, our content has increased.

The greatest thanks of all goes to those of you that read this site every single day. I have been truly touched by the number of people who told me as I traveled the state for the Sheldon Campaign that they read this site every day and that they take what we put in print seriously. Without our readers and the feedback they give us, we would not be here today.

Through our existence, the concepts, writing style and perspectives have evolved on this site. We however are committed to giving fresh and unique perspectives from a progressive point of view on all matters related to Florida. As we enter a new post-election phase with the site our readers are invited to help guide us forward with ideas and guest columns that we will be more than happy to run.

While we are a progressive site, we value debate and open dialogue on a number of issues. Those who disagree with the views of our writers are always welcome to chime in and offer a guest submission.

Once again thank you to everyone that has helped get us to this point!

– Kartik