An Internet site uses issues such as gun control and abortion to help you choose a candidate.
LEWISTON – Take away politicians’ cliché-filled rhetoric, their blow-dried coifs and the he-said, he-said squabbles. Deciding on a presidential candidate could focus solely on the issues.
That’s the objective of a quiz called President Match.
Created by AOL News and Time, it’s an Internet site that asks visitors questions in 18 areas, all issue-related. The issues range from gun control to the environment, Social Security to the war in Iraq. A computer compares answers to those given by President George W. Bush and the top six Democratic candidates.
At the end, the site assigns its best matches, with a percentage score and a list in descending order. It takes five minutes.
The Sun Journal asked several local people to take the quiz. And they discovered a few surprises.
For example, the site matched former Auburn Mayor Lee Young, a republican, with Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic Party’s current front-runner.
Phil Nadeau, Lewiston’s assistant city administrator, drew a tie between Kerry and Sen. Joe Lieberman, though he has been happy with President Bush. Lieberman, who dropped out of the race Tuesday night after seven states chose delegates that day, is no longer on the list.
For some, however, the answers were entirely predictable.
The Rev. Doug Taylor, leader of the Jesus Party, supports Bush and drew a 100 percent match with the president. The fundamentalist preacher said he agrees with the president’s No Child Left Behind initiative and his support of the death penalty.
“I believe that it’s ordained by God,” Taylor said of the punishment.
Folks could learn from the quiz, said Taylor and the other test takers, though it’s a little glitchy. All questions are phrased to seek five possible answers: from strongly in favor to strongly opposed.
Tell the computer that you have no opinions, and it matches you with every candidate, all at 100 percent.
Support everything and the Rev. Al Sharpton tops the list. Oppose everything and retired Gen. Wesley Clark and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards tie for first, with Bush following close behind with a 99-percent match.
Of the seven Democratic candidates on the quiz before Lieberman dropped out, only two, Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Kerry, turned up in first place when locals took it.
Zark VanZandt, the dean of Lewiston-Auburn College, said he was matched with Kucinich, though he declined to give exact percentages. Lewiston Mayor Lionel Guay was among the Kerry designees.
“I guess it’s right,” said Guay. “Kerry’s kind of liberal. That doesn’t mean that’s who I’ll vote for.”
For Bob Stone, a conservative who ran for the Maine Senate in 2002, the quiz softened his image a little.
He believes people who are openly gay ought to be able to join the military. And legal immigrants should be able to collect welfare, he said.
Those sentiments showed up in his results. Though Bush was a strong number one, with a 100 percent score for Stone, Lieberman won second place with 78 percent.
“I’m not as rabid right as people might think,” he said.
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