Political Courage Test Media Program

Project Vote Smart's Political Courage Test Media Program adds the clout of local, state, and national news organizations to the influence of national party leaders and the voices of Project Vote Smart members. Combined, these groups make sure candidates know there is a strong local interest in their response to the Political Courage Test.

AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA,CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NV, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, TN, SC, SD, TX, UT,VA, VT, WA, WI, WV,WY

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Media Partnership Program

The Political Courage Test poses one central question of candidates: ''Are you willing to tell voters your positions on the issues you will most likely face on their behalf'' If a candidates answers 'Yes,' they are asked to demonstrate that willingness by answering a few short questions on issues that are of concern to the public and likely to come up in the next session of the state legislature or US Congress.

A number of media organizations have supported the Political Courage Test since 1998, including CNN, NBC, MSNBC, PBS, MTV, C-SPAN, Washingtonpost.com, the National Journal and more than 250 other news organizations. State and local news organizations have written editorials, broadcast interviews with the Project Vote Smart staff, and have written letters directly to their candidates, encouraging candidates to prove their issue positions through the test.

In return for their support, we provide these organizations with early and unlimited access to the candidates' responses before we announce the results publicly. They have complete access to our candidate contact records throughout the process, as well as early and special access to the other categories of important information from our database. In addition, these news organizations have the opportunity to help us design the Political Courage Test for their state by reviewing the first draft of their state Political Courage Test and suggesting areas or questions for inclusion.