great questions

I really, really like these questions. I think they have been done is such a way as to really get at the heart of who a person is, not just make them give a laundry list of issues. Although issue positions are important, we will never be able to anticipate the kinds of decisions they will be asked to make on a daily basis. But a good, honest, courageous, authentic person who is running not for their own self agrandizement, but to serve the people and to help make America better, will make the right choices even when we are not looking.

I would be very curious to try these questions out and see how long it would take for someone to answer them. My fear is that there are too many, but it also would depend on how much they went on about each question. I think that question 4 and question 8 could be combined. In fact, we could go to the candidate's websites before the presentation and print out bullet points on their issues and bring it to the meeting, and just ask them if they have anything to add to that list (or if they do not have a published stance on one of the questions above, to then ask for it), and ask them at that point what their top issues are. I also think you need to add choice to question 8. And what do you mean by "safety?"

Minor point -- the first question is not a question and the question mark should be removed.

And I would actually be fascinated to have all of our speakers answer these questions, even the ones that are not candidates.

Sorry, by Safety I had meant Security. Not sure what I was thinking.

I agree there are too many questions and the list needs to be shorter.

I like your idea of trying to learn about the candidates opinions on the specific issues in question #8 from materials made available (such as via his/her website) and asking the candidate if he/she has anything to add. The list of of issues could become overwhelming. Maybe instead of asking questions #4 and #8 (and possibly #3) we ask: "As a legislator, you'll be making descisions on a number of important issues, too many to talk about them all tonight. We have the information and materials on (list the issues) you've made available through your website. Are you particulary close to or have some personal history with any of these issues? If so, please elaborate? Is there anything you would like to highlight in these materials?"

Question #1 is also a possibility for finding that information on the candidates website. It is a bit resume-ish in nature and that infomation may possibly be available. We could ask the candidate if he/she wants to add anything to what we've found.

In addition to asking question #6 about the dems organizations. We could also ask a question about the other party and how well organized it is and where the oppositions base of support is coming from.

I think if we scheduled 45 minutes per candidate, allowing 20 minutes for the candidate to speak, followed by our groups questions, say 6-7 questions thinking 2-3 minutes each is about 15 minutes, followed up with 10 minutes of individual questions.

My top 3 (in no particular order) are #2, #5, #6 and #10 (ok, that's really 4)
My bottom 3 (again no particular order) are #1, #7, #9.

Thanks for making this great list of questions, Randall. I would recommend two primary changes.

First, I would eliminate questions 8 and 9. I think it is more valuable to have the candidate identify what issues they care about, as we ask in question 4. This gives us a better idea of why the person is really running. In addition, I don't want to start down the road of having a laundy-list of issue-specific questions that we are judging candidates on. While each of us probably has our own list of positions that we want a candidate to have or not have on specific issues, I think endorsement sessions become a mess if we start focusing on particular issue positions. The real question for me is whether the candidate is a real progressive who believes in grassroots politics and political reform, not their views on a particular issue. I think we can best figure this out through more open-ended questions such as #4. Finally, many of these issues may not be relevant to certain races. For example, a state legislator has no real control over the Iraq War, and someone such as Deb Shore has no say in the immigration debate.

Second, I would add a questions specifically focused on how the candidate views the role of grassroots campaigning in both his or her own race and in reviving the Dem party in general. This might be best juxtaposed with question #10, in which you ask about the financing of campaigns.

nice work Randall, concurring with Shannon and Sandra

Randall, let me echo everybody's thanks to you for good work. Great start, wonderful job.

I agree with Shannon -- we'll get a better sense of what a candidate thinks if it's a little more open ended and centered on what the candidate thinks is important.

I also agree with Sandra that this might be a bit too long of a set of questions if we have more than one candidate on a given night.

My top 4 questions: 2, combie 3/4, 6, 10

Issues in #7 are likely to come up in the discussion of 6; we can also use 6 to assess the candidate's grass-roots strength.

Drop: #9 and most of #8 -- frankly, many of these quesitons are too federal in nature (as opposed to the state/local focus of most races) and the question of a Bush impeachment isn't that germane to anything, as there isn't any likelihood that any candidate would ever get to vote on such a provision.

Further, we can find out what "kind of Democrat" these candidates are through the other open-ended questions and follow ups, if we have time.

Let me also say that to the extent some of these candidates are running in, say, Park Ridge, a headline in the local paper that says "at Chicago meeteing, candidate X says he supports impeaching Bush" probably won't do anybody any favors. Why pin a candidate down on an polarizing issue that isn't even going to come up during their tenure in office? This is especially true when we can figure out what the candidate is about through other queries.

Thanks again, Randall!

-Jeff Waldhoff

Revised list for Steering Committee

Original Questions:

1. Prior to deciding to run (or being first elected to your current office) describe your involvement in politics?
2. Did you have any mentors (and/or heros) in the political world that you look to for guidance? If so, who? Follow-up with: Have you mentored anyone in the same sense?
3. Have you been involved in any advocacy related causes? If so, what causes, what organizations, and how were you involved?
4. Are there any issues that you are particulary close to or have a particular interest in? If so, which ones and why?
5. How did you come to run for office? How did you go from citizen-at-large to thinking about running to actually running? Were you asked to run? If so, by whom? Follow-up with: What do your family, friends and co-workers think about you running for office?
6. Describe how the democratic party is organized in your district. What groups exist? Which of these groups have supported you, and how? Which have not? Do you have any close associtations with any of these groups? Follow-up with: Are any of these groups considered "grass-roots" organizations?
7. Do candidates for your office get "slated" by the party for the primary election? If so, were you slated? Why or why not?
8. Please share your thoughts and any positions you have on these issues:
- A. Iraq
- B. Healthcare
- C. Immigration
- D. Civil Liberties
- E. Safety (revised to: Security)
- G. Taxes
9. President Bush: Impeach, Censure or Let him be? Why?
10. Please share your thoughts on the financing of political campaigns. Follow-up with: How much have you raised? How many donors? What is your fundraising plan?

From the Comments....

General:
1. Note, only 4 comments were provided, so not a lot of input to draw from
2. Open ended questions preferred
3. Running thru a laundry list of issues probably not a good idea
4. #9 requested to be removed by half the commenters, but prior to the introduction of HJR 125
Comments were made prior to descission of research committee to create candidate packets

Addtions:
1. Add "Choice" to issue list in #8
2. Add a question specifically focused on how the candidate views the role of grassroots campaigning in both his or her own race and in reviving the Dem party in general. This might be best juxtaposed with question #10.
3. In addition to asking question #6 about the dems organizations. We could also ask a question about the other party and how well organized it is and where the oppositions base of support is coming from

Removals:
1. remove #8 and #9
2. remove #9 and most of #8
3. Issues in #7 are likely to come up in the discussion of #6; we can also use 6 to assess the candidate's grass-roots strength

Changes:
1. Combine #4 and #8
2. Combine #4, #8 and #3 as ...
3. As a legislator, you'll be making descisions on a number of important issues, too many to talk about them all tonight. We have the information and materials on issues you've made available through your website. Are you particulary close to or have some personal history with any of these issues? If so, please elaborate? Is there anything you would like to highlight in these materials?"

Favorites
1. #2, #5, #6 and #10
2. #2, combine #3/4, #6, #10

Least Favorites
1. #1, #7, #9



Suggestions for new set of questions (in no particular order)

1. Do you have any mentors (and/or heros) in the political world that you look to for guidance? If so, who? Follow-up with: Are you mentoring anyone in the same sense?
2. How did you come to run for office? How did you go from (1) citizen-at-large to (2) thinking about running to (3) actually running? Were you asked to run? If so, by whom? Follow-up with: What do your family, friends and co-workers think about you running for office?
3. Describe how the democratic party is organized in your (district). What groups exist? Which of these groups have supported you, and how? Which have not? Do you have any close associtations with any of these groups?
4. How well organized is your opposition?
5. As a legislator, you'll be making descisions on a number of important issues, too many to talk about them all tonight. We have the information on issues you've made available through your website (referring to the candidate packets created by research committee), is there anything in particular you would like to highlight in these materials?
6. Please share your thoughts on the financing of political campaigns. Follow-up with: How much have you raised? How many donors? What is your fundraising plan?
7. Could you share your views on the role of grassroots campaigning in both your race and in reviving the Dem party in general.

???
Question on Impeachment of Bush

Two questions

It seems to me that we have two basic questions. (That doesn't mean that we should have only two specific questions.):
1) Are you a progressive?
2) Are you going to win?
These questions cover the first quite well. The only matter on the second deals with fund-raising. I'm not sure that this is what we should be emphasizing.

Frank

Frank is right

Randall,

Great work. A second question about the person's campaign is in order. Even something as simple as "How are you going to win this race?" might do....