CHOOSING A CANDIDATE TO SUPPORT

What should we look for in deciding which candidate to vote for, especially for such an important race as governor of Minnesota?

On another blog some of us were discussing how we feel about candidates who don't answer emails. I said that I know people who will not support candidates who don't respond to their emails, letters and phone calls. It is frustrating when a voter is ignored. Indeed, I was surprised at how many people said they would not be voting for a particular candidate because their attemps to contact him were ignored.

Although it's very important that a candidate respond to voters, it's certainly not the only thing that ought to be looked at. Here's some of the things I look for.

1. Can he/she do the job? How much past government experience does the candidate have?
2. Has there ever been an issue because of lack of honesty, ethics, integrity, character, etc?
3. What did the candidate do in past positions to make life better for other people?
4. Is there any evidence that the candidate only wants to be governor to obtain power and glory? Or does the candidate really and truly care about making Minnesota a better place?
5. If the candidate has a lot of money, where did that money come from? Could anyone call it blood money? Or did it come from generations of hard work and good investments?
6. What is your gut reaction to the candidate? What do your instincts tell you? What does your heart say? What does your logic say?
7. Does the candidate really like campaigning for money? Or does he/she find it a distasteful necessity?
8. What are the core values of the candidate? What in his/her life shows that these are indeed the core values?
9. Does the candidate take care of him or herself? If they don't take care of themselves physically, they won't make taking care of Minnesotans a high priority.
10. Does the candidate like children and animals? That says a lot about the candidate. If he or she has an obvious distaste for them, I wouldn't vote for them. Not very many candidates have pictures on their websites of interaction with children or animals. With the exception of Goldie Gopher.