Vote Smart!

   I have a friend who believes in Al Franken like a fundamentalist believes in the Bible. No one could be further from me politically. Except maybe Al Sharpten. So you can imagine the e-mail escapade we had over Fahrenheit 9/11. We documented our diatribes with quotes and facts. After a week of this, I e-mailed her my column about the propaganda show my fourth graders put together in the 70's. (To reads it type "Brownie camera" in the Archives browser at www.gwinnettdailypost.com .  I maintained that if nine-year olds with a Brownie camera and eight Crayolas can produce a snow job, then a professional filmmaker with all his camera tricks can mastermind a blizzard. 
   The next time we got together-we're really good friends-she gave me a brochure for Project Vote Smart. The Web site www.vote-smart.org lists all the candidates running at the state and national level, including all 167 wannabes running for President. The site includes links to their voting records, endorsements, speeches, public statements, finances, Zodiac signs and favorite ice cream. There's also a lengthy quiz that most major candidates didn't fill out, but I believe with good reason. It's multiple choice with most choices not being exactly how I would word them if I wrote them myself. Anyway, you can take the whole quiz or just part of it and see where you compare with all the presidential candidates. I responded in five categories in which I have strong opinions. I was not surprised to see that my top ten matches were Independent or parties I never heard of. But what was Al Sharpten doing only halfway down the list?
   For information at the local level, we have Election 2004 that is just a click away on the Post's Web site. Links connect you with biographies, updated news stories, speaking schedules and contact information on all the candidates. And on Thursday and Sunday, Camie Young's Political Notebook keeps voters posted on everything from onstage speaking engagements to behind-the-scenes comments. And now that names have been narrowed down for the November election, it will be easier to hone in on hot button issues.
   But of all the campaigning I see, I think the venues that have the most validity are the ones that come from the heart. Last Wednesday, in the Letters to the Editor, the personal testimonies by Jean Warner of Lawrenceville and Robert A. Bowman, Jr. of Buford caught my eye. Both writers related facts and personal experiences that told me much more that I would could learn-or trust-from a slick poster designed by a professional. And when I see campaign signs in friends' yards that, too,reveals more about the candidates' credibility than a canned ad.
   My friend and I disagree about a lot of things. Including ice cream. She doesn't even eat it. But we agree on one thing: Everyone should vote smart!


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