THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190629
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG SCHNEIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Love, psychic friends and cubic zirconia are already just a phone call away, but for Virginians confused by the U.S. Senate race, a new dial-a-service may be even more enticing: You can get facts about the candidates by dialing an 800 number.
Project Vote Smart, an enterprise of the nonprofit Center for National Independence in Politics, announced Thursday that Virginia voters can get free copies of its ``Voter's Self-Defense Manual'' by dialing 1-800-622-SMART.
The manual contains tables of the addresses, key votes, campaign finance history and various performance ratings of every member of Congress.
To get information about challengers, you have to ask the operators. They can answer questions about any candidate's background or finances, and they can fact-check claims you might have heard one challenger make about another.
The project also has tried to interview all the candidates about their stands on a variety of issues, but that information won't be available until later in the year, said Richard Kimball, a former Arizona state senator who serves as president of the center's board.
Within the next two weeksthe service will be available via computer, Kimball said.
The manual, which normally costs $3.50, is being offered free in Virginia to publicize the project's services in the midst of a ``hot race,'' Kimball said.
The center's roll of founders is a star-studded bipartisan group that includes Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Barry Goldwater and George McGovern. Project Vote Smart, administered from Oregon State University and Northeastern University in Boston, is funded by the Carnegie Corp.
Kimball said the project was founded to combat the fear that political campaigns churn out ``issueless, mudslinging, meaningless, dangerous trash every year, and it's killing the (political) system.''
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES TOLL-FREE
PHONE NUMBERS by CNB