Candidate Match online tool for Ohio Governor

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Although the candidates in the Democratic and Republican gubernatorial primaries have been making speeches, meeting with editorial boards and running campaign ads, some Ohioans remain undecided about whom to support in the May 2 election.

Many Ohio voters who have made up their minds still want more details about their chosen candidates’ views on the issues.

In an effort to help Ohioans make informed choices on Election Day, The Columbus Dispatch, WBNS-10TV, the Ohio News Network and ThisWeek Community Newspapers — all members of the Dispatch Media Group — have come together to provide voters with an interactive feature called CandidateMatch.

By completing a brief online questionnaire, you can find out how your views stack up against those of the candidates seeking your support in this year’s Ohio gubernatorial primary races.

I highly suggest trying out this tool, it’s very informative and its 25 questions cover a good range of issues. I filled it out and got an overwhelming 1200 points for Strickland, and a [not surprising] -700 points for Blackwell. Yes, that’s negative 700. The tool calculates the points based on how far off your answer is from the candidate’s answer, as well as the level of importance you assign to the specific issue (”extremely important” multiplies the number by 200%, for example.) And there is the option to not rate the issue at all, in case you’re unfamiliar with the facts or simply indifferent.

It’s just what the American People need, a quick online survey to make their political decisions for them. Like the great Usability book says, Don’t Make Me Think! Well okay, we’re still thinking, just not as hard.

Hey, whatever will get people to vote. Now if we could just implement some American Idol-styled voting, we’d have ourselves one of them there active democracies!