Project - US Voter Survival Kit from Public Agenda
September 18th, 2008See
www.publicagenda.org/citizen/electionguides
Subject: Re: Voter�s Survival Kit
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:31:38 -0400
From: Shaheen Hasan
*Public Agenda Calls on Candidates to Focus on Issues in Last 50 Days of
Campaign*
�Voter�s Survival Kit� at PublicAgenda.org Examines Six Issues and Sorts
through the Campaign Rhetoric
Aims to �Protect Voters from Political Spin�
New York City � The nonpartisan, nonprofit PublicAgenda.org � twice
nominated for a Webby Award for best political site � officially
launched the �Voter�s Survival Kit: The Smart Citizen�s Guide to What
the Politicians Won�t Tell You.� The kit can be found at
www.publicagenda.org.
�Elections are too important to be about anything other than how the
candidates plan to tackle the big issues that Americans say they care
about most, issues like the economy, foreign policy, healthcare,
immigration, taxes and climate change,� said Public Agenda President
Ruth A. Wooden. �We call on the candidates and the media to join with
voters in focusing on real issues in substantive ways in these last,
most important 50 days of the election season.�
Candidates like to make big promises and often avoid talking about the
serious trade-offs that come with any of the tough choices that have to
be made. The Voter�s Survival Kit provides a nonpartisan crib sheet to
help voters get the facts straight and protect themselves from political
spin. Issue guides in the kit are designed to help typical voters sort
through the campaign rhetoric and make up their own minds about which
candidates have the best ideas. The issue guides highlight fundamental
facts voters need to know and explains more about the choices the
country faces in down-to-earth, easily understandable terms.
The Voter�s Survival Kit is written by Jean Johnson and Scott Bittle,
the authors of the best-selling book �Where Does the Money Go?� (2008,
HarperCollins) that The New York Times said managed to be �entertaining
and irreverent while serving as an informative primer on a subject that
is crucial to the future of all Americans.�
The authors have applied their concise, engaging approach to complex
topics with the Voter�s Survival Kit issue guides on:
- The Economy
- Iraq and Beyond
- Climate Change
- Health Care
- Immigration
- Taxes, Spending and Debt
Each issue guide includes a brief overview of the topic, an evenhanded
review of possible solutions and the pros and cons of each approach,
both on an interactive web platform and in a downloadable PDF format.
The Voter�s Survival Kit also includes online discussion, links to
candidate positions on issues and other sites with extensive information
on issues, blogging opportunities, links to voting information sites,
�Smash the Political Spin� and �Election Countdown� widgets and more.
�A lot of the campaign debate is about questions of leadership and
experience, and that�s important. But part of selecting leaders is
thinking through where you want them to lead the country,� co-author and
Public Agenda Executive Vice President Scott Bittle said.
Co-author and EVP Jean Johnson added, �It doesn�t matter whether it�s
the Republicans or the Democrats, liberals or conservatives, most of the
promises they make on the campaign trail sound pretty good on the face
of it. But just how realistic are they? Do they really hold when you
take a closer look at them? Our goal is just to give voters a little
help in sorting through the spin � and maybe to help them think about
some of the longer-term issues in addition to the headlines of the day.�
Public Agenda has presented citizen issue guides focused on key election
topics in every Presidential campaign season since 1996. The 2004
election guides were downloaded by hundreds of thousands of users.
With 2.6 million visitors last year, PublicAgenda.org is the site
journalists, policymakers, educators and average citizens who want
nonpartisan, balanced information with thorough discussion of the pros
and cons go for help to clarify the issues.
