Canada Free Press makes it to most popular top 100 Conservative websites

Jim Whelan, aka, "The Cowboy" astride the form of transportation Al Gore wishes on the rest of us.

Although it was revealed by Rachel Alexander of Intellectual Conservatives.com on July 30, I didn't now until last night: Canada Free Press (CFP) is ranked high among the most popular 100 conservative political websites and blogs for 2007. Indeed as number 47, CFP is among the 50 most popular conservative websites and blogs. It was a Google Alert on one of those just-can't-sleep nights that clued me in to the impressive statistics. If I hadn't read another website owner crowing about their vaunted position earlier in the evening, I may never have clicked on to the early morning Google Alert. Having clicked on and thinking that I must have been dreaming, I plugged in the coffee percolator. With fresh java on hand, I returned for a second look at the computer screen.

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There was CFP rated at number 47. That CFP was rated ahead of Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity was heady stuff with or without coffee. I have long considered writer Mark Steyn the best of the best, and it was incredible to find CFP ahead of him. That the Drudge Report, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, WorldNetDaily and NewsMax are the giants of the Internet should surprise no one. Statistics in the Intellectual Conservative's Who's Who of Conservative Political Websites of 2007 were based on Alexa numbers. But the big story not featured in statistics is one that matters most to us: The hard work of running an independent, 24-7 website with stories readers are looking for is finally paying off. On long CFP days, our flagging hopes have been boosted when we see signs that people in droves are turning to the Internet because they feel let down in one way or another by the mainstream media. While advertising and circulation are dropping in the print media, more advertising dollars are reaching the Internet. You can depend that Sales Manager James Whelan, known fondly as "the cowboy" received an early morning email saying, "I always knew CFP would give the cowboy something to be proud of!" It's not so much gloating to celebrate coming in ahead of O'Reilly and Hannity. It is knowing that they have the resources we don't that makes our ranking all the sweeter. As far as is known, CFP and the Fraser Institute are the only two Canadian outlets on the entire 131 long list of the Intellectual Conservative's Who's Who. But as the incomparable Paul Harvey (Number 43 on the list) would say, there's always "the rest of the story". There would be no CFP at number 47 on the list without our team of writers, who the editor can proudly say now numbers 72. I won't start naming them here because of potential errors by slighting someone unintentionally overlooked. To CFP, they are all important. Although Associate Editor Arthur Weinreb, senior columnist Klaus Rohrich and myself were CFP originators, columnists from all over the globe now keep the site up to date with opinion and late-breaking stories. None of it would be even possible without overworked webmeister Brian Thompson, who does 100 percent of the daily posting and the web maintenance that regular posting necessitates. In the past three months, a veritable character, whose urgings "People, people, this is just a suggestion" still brings a smile to my face. It was Lynn B. Neal out in Arizona whose patience in walking us through site automation shortened our workday by half. All of this helped get us to the top, where the editor and team are determined to stay. Although on the scene for decades, as a daily CFP won't be four years old until May 15, 2008. It was three and a half years of one of our writers making it to Drudge, Michael Savage, FoxNews, Lucianne, the Gathering of Eagles, Melanie Morgan's website and to so many others. It was having my column about Terri Schiavo read, word-by-word on air by Rush Limbaugh. Going back to the beginning, it all started out by having to write possible backup cover stories to get a jumpstart on daily deadlines and by being fortunate enough to be picked up on a routine basis by popular Internet giant, Newsmax.com. But more than anything else, arriving at the top of the most popular Conservative website list proves what our elders told all of us: Hard work and perseverance pay off in the end. 2008 is going to be Canada Free Press' year.