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It's more complicated than simply money issues, but I agree that this study does not prove much. If congressmen want to stay in office they need votes and they need to do what they think will get them elected. If you want to know what has your elected official's attention, it is much more direct to look them up in Project Vote Smart.

Project Vote Smart may be a good place to start (the website interface is a little confusing; if you pick the wrong state you can change it on the left-hand side of the page). Voting requirements are quite different depending on the state you're in. While the information on this website gives you a pretty good idea of what you need to do, you should look up your state's elections website (the link to which should be available on Project Vote Smart) to make sure you've got the most up-to-date information, and feel free to call your local election office with any questions (they can be found on Project Vote Smart if you know what county of your state you're in). The following points are, in my opinion, the most important to look for:

• Some states permit registration at the polling place on the day of the election, others require it before. But you will need to register before you can vote for the first time.
• There will likely be a requirement that you live in the state a period of time (such as 30 days) before voting.
• Depending on your state you may be challenged for proof-of-identity at the polling place every time you vote -- the easiest form for you to carry would be either a driver's license if you opt to get one or a state-issued photo ID if you don't (both are typically issued at your local Department of Motor Vehicles for a nominal fee; call them first and ask what identification you need to bring before they can issue you a card. Probably something as simple as your passport and Social Security card). In 2004 a number of such challenges were performed in Ohio and it's possible similar tricks could be played in other states, so I suggest bringing valid ID if you have it even if you don't think they'll require it.
• If you want to vote in primary elections, which are used by political parties to choose the candidate they're going to run in the general elections, your state may have the requirement that you register with that party. If that's the case it's likely to be on the same form you use to register to vote.
• Make sure you know where your polling place is before you vote (sometimes they get changed or your address gets moved to a different voting district).
• If you know in advance you won't be able to get to your polling place to cast your vote on the day of the election you can request an absentee ballot, which lets you mail in your vote. If you plan on voting absentee, request the ballot as soon as you can (to avoid any deadline on mailing them out) and mail it as soon as you can (to avoid the deadline on processing it; they will likely require receipt by Election Day.) Check with your local election office for more information.
• Plan on a significant delay when you go to vote. In 2004 there were waits of more than an hour in some polling places and a number were closing with lines of people yet to vote -- nothing has really been fixed since then and this election should draw almost as many people. If you think this will be a problem, get to your polling place as early in the day as you can or vote absentee.
• Subscribe to your local newspaper, or buy/read a copy for a few days leading up to the election. At least where I'm at, they print a copy of the ballot in there so you can see what you'll be voting on. Voting for candidates is fairly straightforward, but when you're asked to vote on an issue sometimes the wording will be convoluted to confuse voters into voting differently than they intended -- so it helps to look at it ahead of time, and warn family and friends if necessary.
• You should be able to leave a ballot item blank if you don't want to vote on it (ask an election official to be sure).

As far as deciding who to vote for, the least-biased sources take the most work to examine. Our next election in November will affect Congress (every member of the House of Representatives and a number of members of the Senate) -- when t

Why ask me, use the power of the Internet.

FWIW, I don't agree with all of Ron Paul's positions. But what makes me respect him is that he has principles and sticks to them. He would rather be right than popular. Quixotic, I know, but entertaining.

The only party with the guts?
You have to be kidding. Not one single democratic senator has called for impeachment. Not one. Only one has called for a vote of censure, and he didn't even get any support from his party.
The democrats are about as gutless as they can possibly be. They keep saying that the President's acts are illegal but, refuse to call for impeachment. This means that they are committing libel and don't really agree the actions are illegal or they are too spineless to just call for a hearing. Guts would be calling for an impeachment hearing even if you don't think you'll win.

The solution is to vote neither democrat or republican, both of these parties suck.
Pick a different party:
http://www.vote-smart.org/resource_political_resou rces.php?category=Political%20Parties

Apparently Diana DeGette received 86 - 100% approval ratings from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the past 6 years, according to Vote-Smart.org

How can this apparently high approval rating from a purported supporter of civil liberties be reconciled with Rep. Degette's recent anti-privacy action? Was the ACLU on crack when they scored her?

Apparently Diana DeGette received 86 - 100% approval ratings from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the past 6 years, according to Vote-Smart.org

How can this apparently high approval rating from a purported supporter of civil liberties be reconciled with Rep. Degette's recent anti-privacy action? Was the ACLU on crack when they scored her?

There is one thing I want more than anything else in a news site. If a news article is about a legislative action, then I want bill numbers, amendment numbers and a sidebar that shows me who voted how. That way, I can pick up the phone as soon as I have read the article, without spending two hours trawling through the house/senate web sites looking for the info, and call my elected representatives to either thank them or to tell them they are sons of bitches.

Project Vote-smart is a good step in the right direction, but the database is indexed the wrong way and doesn't touch committees at all. Besides, it isn't a news site. I want it integrated into a news site.

That alone will probably get my undying loyalty.

I know the right wings, they helped get the Patriot Act pushed through.

Too much left wing propaganda for you...bleh. Vote tally here

Russell D. Feingold has the only (D) no vote and Mary L. Landrieu (D) didn't even bother showing up. Everyone else on both sides voted yes.

I've got tons of Democrats who spoke openly of WMDs in Iraq since 1991 who denied they ever did it after the Iraq war started as well. Maybe if something were done about terrorists during the 8 year Democratic reign, 9/11 wouldn't have happened. Instead, they took flight school for 8 years right under their noses. Now that we want to do something people just whine about it.

Yeah I don't know what's up with his GW befriending at the moment.

What I've seen of him hasn't really been from his marketing dept., but interviews with him on a few different programs including The Daily Show, where he seemed like a different breed of politician.

Honestly, I don't know who to vote for anymore. It's SO confusing to sort through all of the political candidates and their voting records. I mean, look at this page for McCain's voting record:
http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_ id=S0061103

How can I really wade through all of that info for every guy out there? Got any suggestions on how to find the ones out there who represent me as a constituent accurately? (Assuming they exist....)

http://www.vote-smart.org/speech.php?can_id=H02711 03

Maybe this will help you answer your question.

Is this the same Tom Lantos who voted to authorize the use of military force against Iraq in an illegal, immoral and genocidal war? http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_keyvote_member.php ?vote_id=3202

Is this the same Tom Lantos who thinks Israel is justified in killing Palestinians and stealing their land?

See my comment on a previous story:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=177193&cid=147 05660

In a nutshell, I think the Bushies are going after Google as retribution for defying the Justice Dept's hunger for private search data.

Chris Smith's voting record:

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.ph p?can_id=H2371103

Notice the votes with/against ACLU and other "rights" organizations. That's all I know about him, but I'm highly suspicious.

I had no idea who Tom Lantos was before this, but I decided to investigate. Turned out he voted to block China's Most Favored Nation status in 1997, and again in 1998, and in 1999, against the wishes of a Democratic president. He also voted against the 2000 bill giving China permanent MFN status.

So, allegations of hypocrisy are misplaced in this particular instance.

I had no idea who Tom Lantos was before this, but I decided to investigate. Turned out he voted to block China's Most Favored Nation status in 1997, and again in 1998, and in 1999, against the wishes of a Democratic president. He also voted against the 2000 bill giving China permanent MFN status.

So, allegations of hypocrisy are misplaced in this particular instance.

I had no idea who Tom Lantos was before this, but I decided to investigate. Turned out he voted to block China's Most Favored Nation status in 1997, and again in 1998, and in 1999, against the wishes of a Democratic president. He also voted against the 2000 bill giving China permanent MFN status.

So, allegations of hypocrisy are misplaced in this particular instance.

I had no idea who Tom Lantos was before this, but I decided to investigate. Turned out he voted to block China's Most Favored Nation status in 1997, and again in 1998, and in 1999, against the wishes of a Democratic president. He also voted against the 2000 bill giving China permanent MFN status.

So, allegations of hypocrisy are misplaced in this particular instance.

Actually, my post was more on-topic than yours, I believe.

I'm fine with other people distilling research to make it easier for a voter to grok. But it's still research, and should be done by any voter. Uninformed voting favors those with more money and name recognition instead of those who will do a better job or better represent the voter's interest.

In general, I think uninformed voters will almost always cause more problems for a democracy than people who don't know or care staying home, and thus I tend to oppose knee-jerk "get out the vote" contentless campaigns.

Just to add some content to my post, I'll post a few sites where you can do some meta-research (read distilled opinions about candidates and issues) in addition to the http://www.vote-smart.org/ site mentioned in the grandparent post:
* League of Women Voters (look for local leagues for local issues): http://www.lwv.org/
* FactCheck.org: http://www.factcheck.org/
* Google for your city/state and "voting information": http://www.google.com/

GREAT in the sense of successful, of course, not in the sense of "good for the people."

You all are taking note of what he's trying to do, right? He's trying to transform the gamer community's reaction to his lunacy into attacks on his cause, which is, at least in his mind, protecting innocent kids and brave police officers.

It's just a matter of time before it becomes a real simple equation:

Disagreeing with Jack Thompson = Helping to kill cops

At that point, it becomes really easy to pass laws banning the types of videogames that Jack disagrees with. (Then movies, then web sites, maybe even books...)

Yep, he may be just a lawyer right now, but he clearly has higher intentions in mind, and he's using skills that have been taught very well over the past few years to get elected. It doesn't take too much gray matter to realize that soccer moms outnumber gaming advocates by a pretty wide margin, so who would you rather have included in your base?

The crying shame of it is that given America's record of picking leaders lately, he'll probably succeed, unless at least a few people not just read Slashdot, but actually act on what they read here.

Send a message, folks, and get out and vote. And not just for the big elections every four years. Vote in your Congressional elections. Vote in your state elections. Vote for your local councilmembers. Spread the word and get your friend to vote. Don't be afraid to use that fancy gaming machine to write a fickin' letter now and then. What do you say, can we please stop the ensuing madness to come before it gets started?

Jack wants to protect children and cops. Hey, I do too, I just happen to think he's going about it all wrong. The question in my mind now is: Who will protect the rest of us from Jack?

Why do you think everyone is an idiot? (Okay, they mostly are, but that's not relevant to this point) Your opinion is that whoever shouts the loudest wins, which means you have no faith in people's ability to choose wisely. It is attitudes like this that create an "elite" calss of people who feel they need to make the decisions for the people who aren't capable of knowing what's best for them. Which is how we get mandated motorcycle helmets, seat belts, fire detectors, air bags... All good ideas, but ones that people should be allowed to decide for themselves, not be forced to adopt. Sure the general populace is intelectually lazy, but that is their choice. Trying to "protect" the process from them is wrong. Either the change the process or educate the people. Go give some money to Operation Vote Smart and help educate the "idiots".

Please note the committee assignments of Joe Barton.

http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=H3831103

As in...

CHAIRMAN of the ENERGY and Commerce Committee.

One might reasonably suppose that give that anyone who is the Chairman of Energy and Commerce would likely have a few $$$$ donated to their campaign by Oil and Gas, along with Electric Utilities. I doubt that Joe Barton would get $$$$ from said industries if he were chairman of the agriculture committee.

I must disagree with the parent post.

Joe Barton was trained as an Industrial Engineer. Not the most rigorous of engineering disciplines, but he is none the less an engineer by training and formal education.

See education at http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=H3831103

Not everyone. My Representative, John Lewis (Georgia 5th district), has his head screwed on straight. He voted against the PATRIOT Act, and I've been watching him (via his Plogress feed) come down on the right side of every major issue.

I'm sure there are others like him. Don't throw out any babies with the bath water.

Apparently, we have collectively b0rked their SQL server, so we can't send a fax through it.

If you would still like to take action, consider writing a well-argued, personal fax to your senators. You can get your senators' contact info at Project Vote-Smart by just supplying them with your 9-digit ZIP® code, and they will list off your other elected officials, too.

I sent letters to my state senator and representative encouraging them to vote against it when and if the opportunity came up, and I fully encourage any other Illinois residents to do the same. If you're not sure who your state senator and representative are, you can find out at Project Vote Smart by entering your 9-digit ZIP code. If your state senator is on the Environment & Energy Committee it's even more important that you get in touch with them.

My letter (adjusted appropriately for the recipient) reads:

Senator,

I just became aware of Senator Rauschenberger's attempt to modify Illinois state law to completely ban municipalities, counties, cities and other political divisions within the state from offering data connection services in Senate bill 499 (specifically, amendment 001).

As one of your constituents I'd like to strongly encourage you to work against this attempt at ensuring that poorly-served areas of the state remain poorly-served.

By banning political entities from offering any kind of data services this modification ensures that in areas where no commercial carrier finds it cost-effective to offer services those services will remain completely unavailable even if the residents of an area are willing to provide them for themselves through local government. Even more, even if the infrastructure already exists because the municipality requires it for other uses, it will not be legally allowed for that infrastructure to be made available. This modification prevents the provision of data services that for the most part don't even directly compete with the broadband carriers that are pushing for these limitations - in particular it means that such options as inexpensive low-speed wireless access will not be available, even though that sort of low-cost connection would provide exactly what many people need as it did with the Minitel service in other countries.

The phrasing of the amendment is also very suspect - what precisely is a "political subdivision of this State," and does that phrasing mean that if this becomes law that all libraries that currently offer wireless Internet access to their patrons must immediately shut it down? Overall Senator Rauschenberger's proposal is an overreaching attempt to limit the options available to Illinois voters in a transparent attempt to cater to large phone and cable companies that aren't even based in Illinois, and I hope I can count on you to oppose it.

Sincerely,

First of all, this already got decided in the Supreme Court, so this is FUD right?

Second of all, if they were to somehow do this, it would be the beginning of the book burnings.

These religious zealots all trying to dream of a way to get rid of pornography while they're busy shacking up with everyone but their wife. 'Nuff said.

Here is a reference to an article on CNN about this. Also, check out the article in the St. Petersburg Times. Last, but not least, check out this article in The Guardian. My favorite quote from the last article: "The controversy [regarding the Bush DoJ paying ChoicePoint $11 million for names, addresses, occupations, DoB, passport numbers, "physical descriptions," tax records, and blood groups of Latin Americans] is not the first to engulf ChoicePoint." Nor, apparently, the last. This was written on May 5, 2003, over a year before this fiasco. How many chances should one company get before they're shut down?

So yeah, this company scares the shit out of me, as does its parent, Equifax. Personal opinion o' me is that they all need to be immediately shut down. If you don't like YOUR personal information being given to anyone with a few bucks, PLEASE write to your government representatives and demand that something real be done NOW to protect our privacy!

P. S. I live about 10 minutes away from Alpharetta, GA, where this company is located. I'm thinking of posting a link to where you can donate pitchforks and torches...

http://www.vote-smart.org is a website that lists the stances voting records, special interest group ratings, campaign finance....the works.

I went ahead and plugged yours in for example and convenience:

Newton County, GA

CURRENT STATE ELECTIONS
Presidential Election 2004
Congressional Election 2004
Georgia State Legislative Election 2004 (Senate)
Georgia State Legislative Election 2004 (House)

CURRENT OFFICIALS
U.S. Senate
Senator Zell Bryan Miller Senior Seat - (Democrat)
Senator C. Saxby Chambliss Junior Seat - (Republican)

U.S. House
Representative David Scott District 13 - (Democrat)

Georgia Senate
Senator Faye Smith District 25 - (Democrat)

Georgia House of Representatives
Representative James Scott 'Jim' Stokes District 72 - (Democrat)

Georgia State Offices
Governor George 'Sonny' Perdue - (Republican)
Lt. Governor Mark Fletcher Taylor - (Democrat)
Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin - (Democrat)
Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker - (Democrat)
Insurance Commissioner John W. Oxendine - (Republican)
Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond - (Democrat)
Public Service Commissioner Herman Douglas 'Doug' Everett - (Republican)
Public Service Commissioner Stan Wise - (Republican)
Public Service Commissioner Angela Speir - (Republican)
Public Service Commissioner Robert 'Bobby' Baker - (Republican)
Public Service Commissioner David Burgess - (Democrat)
Secretary of State Cathy Cox - (Democrat)
State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox - (Republican)

CURRENT CANDIDATES
Presidential and Potential Presidential Candidates

U.S. Senate Candidates
Mr. Allen Buckley - (Libertarian)
Representative John H. 'Johnny' Isakson - (Republican)
Representative Denise L. Majette - (Democrat)

U.S. House Candidates
Representative David Scott District 13 - (Democrat)

Georgia Senate Candidates
Representative John Douglas District 17 - (Republican)

Georgia House of Representatives Candidates
Terry Evans District 112 - (Democrat)
Douglas Holt District 112 - (Republican)

http://www.vote-smart.org is a website that lists the stances voting records, special interest group ratings, campaign finance....the works.

I went ahead and plugged yours in for example and convenience:

Newton County, GA

CURRENT STATE ELECTIONS
Presidential Election 2004
Congressional Election 2004
Georgia State Legislative Election 2004 (Senate)
Georgia State Legislative Election 2004 (House)

CURRENT OFFICIALS
U.S. Senate
Senator Zell Bryan Miller Senior Seat - (Democrat)
Senator C. Saxby Chambliss Junior Seat - (Republican)

U.S. House
Representative David Scott District 13 - (Democrat)

Georgia Senate
Senator Faye Smith District 25 - (Democrat)

Georgia House of Representatives
Representative James Scott 'Jim' Stokes District 72 - (Democrat)

Georgia State Offices
Governor George 'Sonny' Perdue - (Republican)
Lt. Governor Mark Fletcher Taylor - (Democrat)
Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin - (Democrat)
Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker - (Democrat)
Insurance Commissioner John W. Oxendine - (Republican)
Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond - (Democrat)
Public Service Commissioner Herman Douglas 'Doug' Everett - (Republican)
Public Service Commissioner Stan Wise - (Republican)
Public Service Commissioner Angela Speir - (Republican)
Public Service Commissioner Robert 'Bobby' Baker - (Republican)
Public Service Commissioner David Burgess - (Democrat)
Secretary of State Cathy Cox - (Democrat)
State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox - (Republican)

CURRENT CANDIDATES
Presidential and Potential Presidential Candidates

U.S. Senate Candidates
Mr. Allen Buckley - (Libertarian)
Representative John H. 'Johnny' Isakson - (Republican)
Representative Denise L. Majette - (Democrat)

U.S. House Candidates
Representative David Scott District 13 - (Democrat)

Georgia Senate Candidates
Representative John Douglas District 17 - (Republican)

Georgia House of Representatives Candidates
Terry Evans District 112 - (Democrat)
Douglas Holt District 112 - (Republican)

Although it's not all the way down the county level, Project Vote Smart is pretty comprehensive for national and state offices; that is, if the candidate fills out the test(the NPAT) they send them. You can enter a 9 digit zip code to display all the candidates up for election in your districts.

I use project vote smart. Very useful.

Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik
Professional Experience:
...

Programmer/Trainer, Pacific Gas and Electric, 1987-1997
System Analyst, Northrop Corporation, 1985-1987
Senior Programmer, Commonwealth Edison, 1977-1985.

So Vote Geek in 2004!

Here's another site that works for all states:

vote-smart

A lot of information here about candidates for both state and federal offices, including finances, voting records, and interest group ratings. Unfortunately they don't have information about state/county/city level propositions.

Ummm... How about Americana travelling abroad voting by absentee ballot? Oh, that's right, Americans don't travel abroad any more because we spend half our time saying "I don't know why people voted for him, I didn't, but yea, he's an idiot." It really sucks that when leaving the borders of the U.S. you spend half the time apologizing for a leader that has no respect for the consequences of his (in)actions.

America is like that meathead at the bar. He's the biggest guy in the room, but is nice until he starts drinking. In Bush's case, it's drunk with power. And Saddam is the squirly guy at the end of the bar that America swears is looking at him crosseyed, so he starts talking shit. Americas friends, the Europeans, grab him by the arm and tell him he's drunk, acting like an ass, and embarassing all of them by not acting very civil. So what's America do? He gives his freinds a good, hard shove and yells at teh top of his voice that eh doesn't need to listen to anyone because he can kick everyone's ass in the whole room.
His friends walk out the door and leave him to trash the bar and kick that one dudes ass at the end of the bar. The next moringing when hes a bit more sober he realizes that now he needs his buddys to drop some bail money to get him out of trouble and is suprised that they won't pick up the phone.

Congratulations GW, you've turned America into that spoiled, meathead, fratboy, asshole that everyone loves to hate.

Personally, I think he blocked his website for the international community in some half-assed attempt to prevent outside news sources from tearing his propaganda to shreds. I'm actually happy that I live in a red state. That means I don't have to vote for a tool like Kerry just to block Bush. Now I can actually vote for the best person instead of the lesser of two evils. And if anyone else here thinks that the lesser of two evils is a sham of a democracy, you can find out almost anything about the many people running for president, and other offices here. For a good laugh, read throught the NPAT of the guy running on the platform of the United Fascist Union.

His voting record
vs.
Anything Kerry says on TV today.

Don't know about chiled molestation, but here's Mr. Jackson Kirk Grimes, your candidate for president.

Actually, I'm not sure if he's really fascist. :-)

www.vote-smart.org

enter zip code = get all candidates you can vote on

choose a candidate and you can find out:
-a terse biography
-their voting record
-their publicly stated policy
-their financial backing
-how a rainbow of interest groups approve/disapprove of their voting record

the site is simplistic and packed with unslanted info. just as i like 'em. it's by far the best resource i've come accross yet.

to give credit, i came accross this site via one of my Senators' websites, Russ Feingold. He was cosponsor along with John McCain for campaign finance reform, and I couldn't be more pleased with him.

*sigh*

The above is why no one takes this forum seriously.

http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm?PHPSESSID=853a e5b6638e4fc6ab8469b519810b75/

You can actually read what happens.

*I* never suggested you were a kook :)

Here is what happens to your data on publicknowledge.org:

1. Address information is used to query the US Post Office's Web API in order to determine your full 9 digit zip code (yes it would be easier if we just asked for this information, but most people don't know their 9 digit zip code).
2. The 9 digit zip information is used to query the Project Vote-Smart database (which they have graciously provided to us) in order to determine who your representatives are.
3. Your list of representatives is compared to the list of representatives that are set to receive the 'action' which in this case is the phone call , though various other methods are supported by the system, such as sending faxes.
4. The union of your representatives and the representatives for the 'action' is used for the following page, which gives you a list of those representatives and their contact information. In other 'action' formats (such as the fax) the representative information is used to generate a form letter and send it to the representatives office.

None of your information is stored beyond that point. For more information you can read the Public Knowledge Privacy Policy linked at the foot of every page on the site.

The whole system is currently referred to as the Public Action Manager but will be properly released under the name Athens. All the code is Open Source (GPL) and can be found Subversion repository.

All that being said, I have no clue what problem you are experiencing but I have filed it as a bug regardless. I'm sorry that you think it is intentional and not a bug in the page or Mozilla itself.

This, or some variation on it, sounds like a great idea. Perhaps after this round of elections we should suggest just such a thing to our officials. Assuming that both sides (the representors and the represented) want improved communication it would be difficult to argue against providing basic information (e.g. upcoming votes and reasons for the position the official is taking). I realize that's one hell of an assumption, but I can dream! Do you know who your candidates are? At least find out there names: http://www.vote-smart.org/

I'm not sure of the implications, but the final paragraph tells us the Bush campaign has $6 million in their legal fund while the Kerry has $4.6 (as of the end of august). I suppose it's unclear whether that's a result of expenditures Kerry has already made or if it indicates the Bush campaign's willingness to engage in similar tactics.

Regardless, I think I agree with the spirit of the poster. This is depressing. Is it better for there to be fierce litigation, proving the affair to be the horse and pony show it is, or for one of these rather lackluster candidates to win a definitive victory?

Do you know your candidates? At least go to http://www.vote-smart.org/ and learn their names.

Whose really at fault that these candidates have so little support and have no chance of being elected, the CPD? You can complain about the CPD's criteria, but you don't have a word about why they weren't eligible?

Hey, why isn't this debate including everybody else running? This is an outrage!!

1. Looking up your 9-digit Zip code
2. Then use said Zip code to find your representatives
3. Email all your representatives for U.S. Senate and U.S. House.

You might also want to write the editor of your local newspaper.

The nice thing about having the news media, for the most part, on your side, is that you're simply not asked questions that you'd want to duck...I want to know what they've done and thought and how they've conducted themselves in, say, the last 10 years, if I'm going to use it as any indication of how they would be in office in the near future.

I don't think that has much to do with media being "on his side" (an assertation I'd dispute), but rather with the general nature of soundbite politics and of the complexities of the legislative process.

If you want the inforation, it's certainly available. But only the deepest policy wonks can really grasp most of it - it's full of things like this:

Vote to kill instructions to send the bill back to committee with directions to report it back with an amendment to increase the minimum wage to $6.15 per hour by September 1, 2000.

Stories about getting shot at in the jungle are simply more understandable and gripping than stories about a vote to kill instructions to send the bill back to committee with directions to report it back with an amendment (whatever the hell that all means).

The nice thing about having the news media, for the most part, on your side, is that you're simply not asked questions that you'd want to duck...I want to know what they've done and thought and how they've conducted themselves in, say, the last 10 years, if I'm going to use it as any indication of how they would be in office in the near future.

I don't think that has much to do with media being "on his side" (an assertation I'd dispute), but rather with the general nature of soundbite politics and of the complexities of the legislative process.

If you want the inforation, it's certainly available. But only the deepest policy wonks can really grasp most of it - it's full of things like this:

Vote to kill instructions to send the bill back to committee with directions to report it back with an amendment to increase the minimum wage to $6.15 per hour by September 1, 2000.

Stories about getting shot at in the jungle are simply more understandable and gripping than stories about a vote to kill instructions to send the bill back to committee with directions to report it back with an amendment (whatever the hell that all means).

What about this guy? Mr. HRM Caesar St Augustine De Buonaparte

I cant make this stuff up.

But it might help get an idea of where people stand:

www.vote-smart.org lets you look up the voting records of Concresscritters.

They don't 'want Kerry'
The[y] don't want Bush.

They should have included Jackson Kirk Grimes as a CowboyNeal option just to test that theory. And the pollsters would not be allowed to tell them anything more about the candidates than what the responders allready knew.

Vote for Clinton in 2008

I don't know if that is true, but I know that Nixon devoted 1/3 of his 1971 State of The Union on the environment and started/supported creation of the EPA.

But between Bush and Kerry, Kerry takes the cake for being an "environmentalist".

From Project Vote Smart:

Environmental Issues

2003 On the votes that the League of Conservation Voters considered to be the most important in 2003, Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 53 percent of the time.

2003 On the votes that the Sierra Club considered to be the most important in 2003, Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2001-2002 On the votes that the National Parks Consevation Association considered to be the most important in 2001-2002, Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

2001-2002 On the votes that the League of Conservation Voters considered to be the most important in 2001-2002, Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 92 percent of the time.

2001-2002 On the votes that the Comprehensive US Sustainable Population considered to be the most important in 2001-2002, Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 73 percent of the time.

1999-2000 On the votes that the League of Conservation Voters considered to be the most important in 1999-2000, Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 94 percent of the time.

1999-2000 On the votes that the National Parks Conservation Association considered to be the most important in 1999-2000 , Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 100 percent of the time.

1999-2000 On the votes that the Comprehensive US Sustainable Population considered to be the most important in 1999-2000, Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 84 percent of the time.

Then, again, this *is* slashdot...

Seriously, though...assuming (as you appear to) that people in hostile locations weren't polled, how do you accomplish that?

Side-note: I'm not a W supporter, but I'm employed...don't vote Kerry out of stupidity, please. Plenty of presidential alternatives to the awful two big ones at www.vote-smart.org

1) because the Electoral College allows the *individual states*, not the popular vote, to elect the President. This actually *helps* keep California and New York from completely dominating, say, Wisconsin.

From the US census, as of July 1, 2003:

Resident Population California: 35,484,453 4.8
Resident Population New York: 19,190,115 1.1
Resident Population Wisconsin: 5,472,299

From Project Vote Smart:

Electoral Votes California: 55
Electoral Votes New York: 31
Electoral Votes Wisconsin: 10


Electoral Votes Per Person:

California: 1.5x10^-6
New York: 1.6x10^-6
Wisconsin: 1.8x10^-6

Give me one good reason why my vote should be worth more than a Californian's just because I was born in New York, and why a farmer's in Wisconsin is worth more than mine.


-Colin