Family values
The Post reported yesterday that Russ Potts is jumping into the Virginia Governor’s race as an independent candidate. Both the Kaine and the Kilgore campaigns are busily spinning that Potts will take away more votes from the other guy. I honestly have no idea which is more likely. Raising Kaine (an independent, pro-Kaine blog) argues that Potts is more conservative than not, and suggests checking out his record on VoteSmart.
What jumped out at me on VoteSmart was the ratings under "Family and Children’s Issues." These turn out to be based on the ratings of a group called the Family Foundation of Virginia. Their definition of pro-family is anti-same sex marriage, anti-choice (they want to make Virginia "the most pro-life state in the nation"), and anti-taxes. That’s not my family values.
I’m not blaming Vote Smart. They explain that "Project Vote Smart collects performance evaluations from special interest groups who provide them, regardless of issue or bias." It seems that no groups with a progressive definition of what constitutes family and children’s issues are putting out scorecards in Virginia. (The Children’s Defense Fund does so at the national level.)
This seems like a gap that’s easy enough to fill. We’d need to figure out a set of specific votes to use, and then fill out a spreadsheet showing all Delegates and Senators voting records. I’m going to contact Voices for Virginia’s Children and see if they’re interested; the Virginia Family Values PAC might be another possibility. Anyone want to join me in this project?
(If you’re in another state, check Vote Smart to see whose issuing ratings in your state. If you want to develop a similar project, the state affiliate of Voices for America’s Children is probably a good place to start.)
February 28th, 2005 at 8:07 pm
That’s too bad about Potts being pretty conservative after all. Not that I would’ve voted without checking out his platform, but I was excited about the prospect of voting for a non-right-wing Republican. More Republicans need to have the balls to do what he’s doing. I’ve actually been pretty pleased with Chichester(!) lately, trying to find the middle ground with Warner on tax and budget issues.