The political campaigning season has begun. It seems to be like the Christmas season, which now starts sometime around late September. I fully expect Ted Cruz to announce his run for the 2020 Presidential election 3 days after he loses the primary.
There is a silver lining to this though. With candidates announcing years in advance, there is significant time to research them. And not just president candidates either.
I have found that opencongress.org is a good website to see what your candidate (if there are presently a member of the US congress) really thinks about various topics. You can pick a congresscritter and see what bills they have written, sponsored, and how often they vote with the party. For example, one of my senators has sponsored or written 40 bills… none of which have been signed into law. I’m sure that says something significant, but I’m not sure what yet.
So, take some time, read the bills that your chosen congresscritter has written. Look at the bills that they voted for and against. How do you feel about those things? Does that person really represent you?
Opensecrets.org is another good website that tracks political spending, fund-raising, Super PAC affiliations, bills sponsored and written, lobbying, and other interesting bits of data. It’s usually very interesting to see what groups contribute funds to a person and compare that to that person’s personal investments and to their voting/sponsor record.
There are other sources of candidate information, but I find many to be highly partisan. The two I mentioned don’t comment on the people, just provide the information. Magazines, newspapers, and TV are the worst sources for candidate information. Though I do tend to not vote for people running attack ads.
What other high quality sources are you aware of for information on potential candidates? Real information, not what it says on their fliers.
