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[Select a grid or Notebook from the lists below]:
- Notebooks: Bill sponsorships; group memberships and endorsements; policy reports.
- Surveys: Issue questions and inferred sumamry answers from political groups.
- Grids: Issue grids and candidate grids from current and past elections.
- Senate Votes: Voting records from the U.S. Senate.
- House Votes: Voting records from the U.S. House of Representatives.
"Notebooks" are documents signed by numerous candidates or elected officials.
Each notebook link below comprises a collection of individual documents,
which in turn indicate the individual signatories.
- Bill Sponsorships:
- Members of Congress who write or introduce bills are known as "sponsors."
- Other members can sign on as "co-sponsors", indicating strong support for the bill.
- OnTheIssues counts sponsorships as more indicative of elected officials beliefs than votes,
because all members of Congress must vote, whereas sponsorships are voluntary.
- Furthermore, bills are often introduced which never pass or even get to a vote,
but we can still infer that members of Congress believe in their content even without a vote.
- Some bills are introduced in the House; some in the Senate; and some jointly; all three types are in this category.
- "Resolutions" provide a sense of Congress without a law; "Amendments" alter existing laws; "Bills" create new law;
all three types of sponsorships are in this category too.
- Surveys:
Some ratings groups ask specific questions (or infer responses) from candidates and incumbents.
- Signature Bill Sponsorships:
- For presidential and senatorial candidates, we separate out bill sponsorships so voters can see how the candidates define their "signature issues".
- A "signature issue" indicates what the candidate considers important enough to spend time writing or co-sponsoring a bill.
- These are usually the issues on which the candidate will focus during the campaign.
- Memberships:
Candidates join groups by signing onto pledges, or by associating their names with groups that espouse specific beliefs.
- Reports, Rulings, and Letters:
Other documents which multiple candidates or incumbents sign onto.
- Governmental Reports: Congressionally-authorized reports and other sponsored reports.
- Resolutions: Congressional and gubernatorial public resolutions.
- Resolutions 2011: Including letters leading up to 2012 Congressional and Gubernatorial elections.
- Letters: Governor's letters to Congress; Congress' letters to Cabinet; and so on.
- Letters 2011: Including letters leading up to 2012 Congressional and Gubernatorial elections.
- Supreme Court Rulings: 1992-1999 Court cases, dissents, and Justice opinions.
- Supreme Court 2011: Including cases focusing on new Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
"Grids" comprise very brief summaries for overviews of candidates and issues.
- Issue Grids:
Candidate summaries organized by issue topics.
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- 2008 Frontrunners: McCain, Obama, Hillary, and Frontrunners.
- 2008 Presidential: McCain, Obama, Hillary, and third parties.
- 2004 Presidential: Bush, Kerry, Cheney, Edwards, third parties, and withdrawals.
- 2000 Presidential: Bush, Gore, Nader, Buchanan, third parties, and V.P.'s.
- Candidate Grids:
Issue summaries organized by candidate.
- 2008 Presidential: McCain, Obama, Hillary, and third parties.
- 2004 Presidential: Bush, Kerry, Cheney, Edwards, third parties, and withdrawals.
- 2000 Presidential: Bush, Gore, Nader, Buchanan, third parties, and V.P.'s.
Senate votes on key issues
House votes on key issues
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