For it not being an election year, Colorado sure had a tumultuous year. From the Jeffco recalls to party drama, we felt like we were living in an episode of “House of Cards”. Below are the stories that lit your fire, our most read from 2015.

10. Harsanyi, the Whistleblower: It’s no secret that we love to remind the media of its job in reporting news in an unbiased manner. We’re glad you love it when we remind the media to behave, too.  David Harsanyi wrote an expose into the secret liberal world of the newspaper newsroom. He was obviously talking about the bias he encountered at the Denver Post. Delicious.

9. Colorado GOP Chair Elections, and the Aftermath: One of the biggest political stories here in Colorado was the change of power at the Colorado GOP. After the GOP had a banner year in 2014, elections for chairman came about and lo and behold, the (now former) Colorado GOP chairman Ryan Call lost to Chairman Steve House. Some questioned whether former Republican state Senator Ted Harvey would take the helm as executive director. He didn’t.

8. Unions Find New Low (if Possible): Just how low will the teacher unions go?  In what is traditionally considered off limits in polite circles, the Jefferson County Education Association went after the children of their political opponents. In one case they tricked the child of a school board member to carry a sign against his own mother.  Another school board member needed to remove his kids from a school because of uncontrolled bullying.  But it’s for the children, right?

7. Jeffco Teachers Union Is Behind Recall Effort: While everyone is making a huge hullabaloo this week about the union’s financial contributions, we would like to point out that we broke that story first. In June. Sure, we didn’t have the dollar figures, but, remember, at that point, (well at every point) the union was still pretending that this was a parent-led effort. It turns out we were right.  Too bad voters didn’t get to hear about these lies until after the election.

6. Unhealthy Tax Increase: Colorado Democrats, just a couple years after losing a billion dollar income tax increase at the polls, have gone for the throat, delivering signatures to place a $25 billion tax increase on the ballot to create socialized medicine in Colorado…and to double the size of the state budget.

5. Fat Tire Flat Tire: New Belgium Brewery is the beermaker we love to hate because its leadership and corporate culture is so loathsomely liberal. In 2012, the brewery went to far as to publicly admit it would not hire Republicans. Lame. We suggested then that any independent or tolerant minded individual should boycott the brewery. Then, New Belgium stepped in it when it attempted to finance the destruction of the coal industry. One town in Colorado – Craig – was having none of it and boycotted the beer on its own. New Belgium tried to make peace, but it was fell, ahem, flat.

4. Farewell Mike Rosen: Certainly one of the biggest stories in the Colorado media landscape was the announcement that longtime radio host Mike Rosen would be stepping away from the mic. In his replacement is delightful (Joanne Ostrow, have you ever actually met her?) Mandy Connell. While we’re sad to see such a fixture in the radio firmament step down, we’re excited about Connell.

3. Colowyo Vindicated: WildEarth Guardians tried to shut down the Colowyo mine in northwest Colorado and got slapped. The delight that our readers clearly took in this story warms our frigid hearts.

2. Chinese Immigrant Warns of Gun Grab: It’s not surprising that our top (actual) story is about the Second Amendment, afterall, Colorado has been the epicenter of firearms overreach since 2013, and Coloradans take a dim view of such East Coast policies worming their way into our lives. Libertarian activist and immigrant from China, Lily Williams, offered explosive testimony comparing communist rule in China to efforts to seize weapons from law-abiding citizens in Colorado.

1. Bennet Switches Parties (April Fools): Really, PeakNation™? REALLY? Our top story of 2015 was not really a story at all.  On April Fools Day, we “broke” the story that Michael Bennet was planning to switch parties. He wasn’t. We were kidding. But, sadly, it wasn’t so unbelievable – probably because his poll numbers within his base were abysmal. Maybe next year, Democrats can actually help him out. You know, when he’s unemployed.

Happy New Year PeakNation™. As you well know, 2016 is a critical election year and we’ll be here to bring you the best, worst, and dumbest of the election. Stay tuned.