Building Select A Candidate

Posted at 7:35 AM on March 10, 2006 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)

I can't remember if I've told you this story before but Select A Candidate has been the most successful interactive tool we've ever developed at Minnesota Public Radio and it's one of the most sought-after codes among many other media Web sites around the country.

I started it with help from some of the smarter MPR folks -- past and present -- about 6 years ago for a couple of reasons. (1) Mainstream media tends not to cover "marginal candidates" so you can size them up and
because of #1 (2) voters end up voting for people because their name is Anderson, or Johansen or whatever. That's a massive failure.

At the same time, we were developing these robust candidate sites on MPR.org (guess who the first media or Web site was to interview and present the views of an unknown accountant named Mark Kennedy?), but nobody was finding them. Nobody was reading about them and when nobody finds them or reads about 'em...well... Anderson it is.

So we came up with the idea of Select A Candidate to make it more interesting -- dare I say: fun? -- for people to get to know the candidates. With Select A Candidate you take a quiz asking you your opinion on a set of issues (I like to keep it around 12-15), hit SUBMIT and then see a stacked list of the order of all candidates and how they matched you. You'll also see a cumulative list of how all the candidates stacked up with everyone taking the quiz
(it's a poor man's poll but you hard-core candidate supporters can forget about trying to up the score for your candidate. It won't work that way). And you can see what issues are driving the electorate.

And the key is once the voter's appetite is whetted, each candidate's name links to a very robust Web page on Campaign 2006 (in this case) dedicated to information about that candidate. More informed voters make more informed decisions and that's all to the good.

I hope to have the first Select A Candidate survey -- this one for governor -- out next week, and the Senate version thereafter.
The new version is powered by a terrific new administrative interface developed by Andy Beger, an absolute genius, in MPR's Information Technology Department (and, yes, this is where that membership money goes and how it comes back to you and serves the public. I'm glad Andy works for us. He's also the brains behind Votetracker.) We can build them faster and now we can better document in bibliographical format, the positions of politicians.

There's still some work to do and this is a good time for you to get involved. In the interest of transparency, here's the quiz, so far, for the governor's race. Add to it, modify it with your suggestions, make corrections.

1. Do you support or oppose a constitutional amendment that would define marriage -- or its legal equivalent -- as between one man and one woman only?
2. Do you support or oppose an increase in the state's gasoline tax to pay for transportation projects in Minnesota?
3. Which of the following statements most closely matches your view on the issue of health care in Minnesota?
4. Do you favor or oppose repealing the so-called concealed-carry law in Minnesota?
5. Which of the following statements most closely matches your vision for K-12 education in Minnesota?
6. When it comes to building new stadiums for the Vikings, Twins, and/or Gophers, what is your opinion?
7. Do you support or oppose efforts to constitutionally dedicate a portion of sales-tax receipts to several areas, including natural resources and cultural projects in Minnesota?
8. Do you support efforts to constitutionally dedicate motor vehicle sales tax revenue to transportation projects (it is now split between the General Fund and transportation)?
9. Do you support or oppose a statewide ban on smoking?
10. Do you consider an increase in sales or income taxes to be "in the mix" to balance the state's budget if necessary?
11. Which of the following statements most closely matches your view on immigration policies in Minnesota?
12. Which of the following statements most closely matches your view on job creation and economic development in Minnesota?

And here's the quiz, so far, for the Senate candidates. Please note, I have not finished coming up with questions for this race. So input away!

1. Which statement most closely matches your opinion on U.S. involvement in the war in Iraq?
2. Do you support or oppose a constitutional amendment definining marriage as only between one man and one woman?
3. Should tax cuts given in the last few years be made permanent?
4. Do you favor or support a balanced budget process that eliminates deficit spending?
5. Which of the following most closely aligns with your position on abortion?
6. Which of the following health care statements most closely aligns with your view?
7. Do you believe military force is an option to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon?
8. What is your opinion of the CAFTA trade agreement?
9. Which of the following statements most closely aligns with your view on the federal education program, "No Child Left Behind."
10. What is your position on agriculture in Minnesota?

Obviously, we can't get to every issue that may come up in the campaign. We're just trying to introduce the candidates to voters.
Now, the hard part of all of this is getting firm answers for candidates. As I've said before, when you hear an answer that starts with "we need to..." you usually don't get an answer, you get a stump speech. Answers that start with "and I'll accomplish this by..." are much better. Some politicians hate that. In 2004, I sent letters to every sitting lawmaker asking their position on 10 issues. You can go back and see how many thought it was important enough to respond. And a handful of those sent letters criticizing my even asking. Yep, wouldn't want a position on an issue to get in the way of a campaign. But I digress.

At present, these are the missing answers for each candidate. If you see a printed or audio item of record that answers it, send it along.

GOVERNOR:

Doran - None
Hatch - 8,9
Hutchinson - 7,8,9,12
Jeffers -- All but 9 (I'm working on that one today)
Kelley -8
Lourey - 7,8,9
Pawlenty - 7,8, 12*

SENATE:

Bell -- None
Kennedy -- 7, 10
Klobuchar -- 2
Uldrich - All
Fitzgerald - All
Cavlan - All but 1
Shudlick - All

Hope you enjoy the final product. Help build it.

Oh, one point because these things should be -- and are here -- stated up front. When you take the quiz, we collect no data other than 0s and 1s and we determine your IP so we can block the effect of taking the quiz more than once on the cumulative results. We don't care who you are. We only care that you're getting access to the information you want.

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Comments (9)

Some of your questions are a little boxed in. I would suggest some changes....
2. Do you support increasing in the directly proportioned / dedicated tax to pay for transportation projects in Minnesota?
2a. If support what taxes would you increase?
choice 1. gas tax (currently the only directly dedicated tax for transportation)
choice 2. vehicle sales tax
choice 3. license tabs
choice 4 etc

This new number two expands the question and removes your number 8.

4. Do you favor current state regulated rules and standard procedures and guidelines for issuing a concealed weapon permit or do you wish to reply the current law and support each county sheriff deciding who can be issued a concealed weapon permit or do you favor adding more regulations on who can receive a concealed weapon permit?

Your number 4 does not have the option that state wide guidlines are good just the current law is not strong enough -- ie the old system is not better the new one is not good enough.

Posted by Brian Hanf | March 10, 2006 12:13 PM

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I filled out the entire questionnare only to find that the "Submit" button on the survey does not work. It brings you to an MPR "can't find what you're looking for?" page. Please fix.

(Bob replies. Thanks for pointing this out. We moved the news domain out of its home to another directory a few weeks ago and there are still some links that were messed up. This has now been fixed.)

Posted by auntie | March 10, 2006 4:14 PM

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A question about lobby and earmark reform might be a good one for the Senate candidates... though I am not sure how it could be formed.

What is the best way Congress can reform lobbying?
A lobbying ethnic oversight committee
Banning former congressmen from the chamber floor
Presidential line item veto

Posted by gml4 | March 10, 2006 11:22 PM

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How did Hatch answer the marriage amendment question? He said he supports the current DOMA statute. The way he words his answer is in such a way that people can interpret his answer to support or oppose the amendment. MPR asked him the question - but Eichten didn't call him on it, in other words, saying "with all due respect, Attorney General, you did not answer the question - do you support or oppose amending the state constitution to ban gay marriage and civil unions? We are not asking about the state statute, we are talking about the constitutional amendment that is currently considered at the legislature.

Posted by Eva Young | March 11, 2006 10:39 PM

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Which Uldrich are you missing informaiton on?

Posted by Brian Hanf | March 22, 2006 2:28 PM

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I have to agree with the boxed in comment. Your implicit assumption is that there are only two sides to a problem: for or against the currently defined way of stating the problem. That statement of problem/solution usually has been framed by a special interest group to divide people and not solve a problem.

For example: the smoking issue is not simply state-wide ban or not. I would suggest if it is about health impacts on workers or patrons, then instead of probiting a behavior just set a clean indoor air standard. Then the building owner/operator/leasor could find the most cost effective solution. That might be to ban smoking. It might be to build an outdoor patio. It might be to install special air handling equipment.

I love being able to come home after a night out seeing live music or drinks with friends and not smelling like a ashtry, but while I also don't think people have a "right" to smoke indoors with others, we can find a true solution w/o either-or bans.

Posted by Daniel Justesen | March 22, 2006 3:35 PM

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While it is difficult to find the candidate answers on the media driven issues I really wish we could expand the list of questions well beyond what we have here.

Things like Instant run off election, or the level of special intrest money a candidate takes in may not be in the top 5 issues for most voters, but there are many that put those kinds of factors near the top of the list.

I also would love to see a sliding scale so that if we are given only 2 options there is a way to say that we believe that answer and then some, or that we fall somewhere in the middle but may lean in one direction.

Going through the 2004 poll on the abortion issue I am forced to answer pro life, but I'm not what a true pro lifer would call pro life, and I tend not to support those that activly push the pro life agenda.

If an answer of pro life represented an 8, whats going on in South Dakota represented a 10, and what I believe represented a 6 it may create a better way of indicating what the voters believe. The candidates are a different story as there is not always a benifit to them for being honest.

Posted by Mike Grimes | March 22, 2006 10:03 PM

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1. Do you support or oppose a constitutional amendment that would define marriage -- or its legal equivalent -- as between one man and one woman only?

That this question comes first says a lot - to me, scary things - about our current political climate. Could we add a third option, something along the lines of "I'm appalled that this question is displacing questions on truly substantive issues. Whatever happened to separation of church and state?"

7. Do you support or oppose efforts to constitutionally dedicate a portion of sales-tax receipts to several areas, including natural resources and cultural projects in Minnesota?

I was met with great frustration when I encountered a question along these lines on the Senate survey at the State Fair. What do I respond if I'm in favor of (dedicated?) funding for these things, but adamantly against adding any more earmarks to our constitution?

8. Do you support efforts to constitutionally dedicate motor vehicle sales tax revenue to transportation projects (it is now split between the General Fund and transportation)?

Same as above...indeed, I think this was the exact question that boiled my coffee. I'm a strong advocate for transit, but don't believe the constitution should set spending rules. Can we add a question explaining the constitutional gas tax dedication, and asking if it should be repealed? That's the direction I want to go, but currently the survey doesn't seem to give me any way to voice that.

I just want to reiterate that the *choice* of questions in this survey, and the offered response options, is almost as important to the outcome as anything else. Please choose carefully - it's tempting to design it to push someone into a position, that makes it easier to design. But it's really unfair to folks who aren't blinded by today's political polarization.

Posted by Robert Rossi | March 23, 2006 12:34 PM

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Thank you for putting together the survey at
www.mpr.org/focusontheissues/
It's Public Insight Journalism at its best! I think it goes a long way toward giving the public a chance to direct the debate toward what they care about, rather than the shiny object being dangled by the politicians more practiced in legerdemain and other tricks of the magician's trade than thoughtful contemplation of important issues they know something about.

Posted by Robert Rossi | March 25, 2006 9:32 AM

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