A Sample Questionaire

Here is the sample questionnaire that I will be sending to our top five gubernatorial candidates. Those candidates are Bob Riley, Roy Moore, Don Siegleman, Lucy Baxley, and Loretta Nall. If you would like for me to include more, please let me know. Hopefully, I can keep Siegleman from talking about his trial, Moore from attacking Riley, Baxley from being vague, and so on. If there is a specific question that you would like me to ask that isn't listed here, please comment with your suggestion.

Candidates: Please give complete and simple (plain language) but short answers to the following questions. Please only answer the question given without straying from the subject matter of the question. Please only address YOUR platform, not the platform of your opponent. Any off-topic or attacking comments will be omitted from your response, should you give them.

1. What do you believe is the single biggest issue facing those in Alabama? Why?

2. Please provide your proposed solution to the above problem should you become the next Governor of Alabama. Please be brief but as detailed as possible.

3. What do you think is the best strategy for budgeting for Alabama?

4. Will you actively support the proposition of bringing Initiative and Referendum to the voters of Alabama, both in your campaign, and afterward? Please answer "yes" or "no" before explaining further.

5. What is your strategy for alleviating the tax burden on Alabama's poorest citizens? Once again, be brief but as detailed as possible.

6. What current U.S. Senator do you feel that you relate to the most? Why?

7. If you could change or add to any part of the U.S. Constitution, what would it be? Why?

8. Do you support the movement to rewrite Alabama's constitution? Why or why not?

9. What would you do to improve the public education system in Alabama?

10. Should the public opinion on an issue change during your term, would you stick to your personal beliefs on that issue or would you possibly change your stance to better reflect the beliefs of the people of Alabama? Why or why not?

I've emailed Zac over at the Alabama Elections blog to see if he would let me post the responses on his site. My original strategy was to host the answers here, but my blog is more op-ed instead of actual reporting. Then again, my original strategy was to call, but it is much easier to directly quote a candidate when they've written everything down for you. Perhaps I'll post the answers in both places.