We’re pleased to inaugurate the only (as far as we know) one-stop shopping spot for all seriously contested Massachusetts races in 2006. And it’s a wiki! Here’s the link:
The idea is to create a single location where you can find a link to the website of any candidate who both has a website and is running in a contested race. I’ve started things off by listing the ones that I know about. I’m sure there are tons that I have missed – and that’s why the wiki setup is so useful. If you know of a contested race that’s missing, or a candidate who should be listed, you just click “edit,” put in your changes, and hit “save.”
I will post a permanent link to the wiki on our front page so that it’s always accessible.
Please share widely!
This is a fantastic resource! If it is all right with you guys I would love to put the link on my front page.
The more links, the better! đŸ™‚
It might help to add teh Federal offices, at least for completeness. I doubt any of the House races will be competitive, but you never know.
I guess I should add them anyway. đŸ™‚
Not necessarily competitive in the sense that the outcome is in much doubt, but there definitely will be competitive races in the sense that multiple candidates will be on the ballot. One that I’m interested in is Phil Dunkelbarger’s primary challenge against district 9 US Representative Steven Lynch.
could be a really interesting race. Lynch barely fended of Cheryl Jacques and his socially conservative stances play well in Southie, but not across the wide swath of the district.
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Then again, labor will fight to the death for him, since he’s one of the them, and the power of incumbency, no matter the issues, takes a massive effort to overcome.
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That being said, the more competitive races, the better.
so if you know of challengers, please add them. Even if they don’t have websites yet, it would be helpful to have the names posted. Thanks!
great job, guys! many thanks.
So the next question is, do you want this to remain a list of links to candidate web sites, or an actually Blue Mass Group knowledgebase? Currently, each candidate name is a link to their web site, not to a stub article or an article edit link.
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If we do move to a knowledgebase, would it be NPOV or with a Blue Mass Group point of view?
it sorta depends on how much time and effort people (i.e., not me) want to put into maintaining this thing. My initial idea was to have it be what it is now – just a quick way to find out what candidates are running for which office, with a link to their own site to learn more. It’s an interesting idea to try to turn it into a knowledge base. My two thoughts are: (1) I would like at least the front page of the wiki to continue to be an “at a glance” way of seeing the entire 2006 election cycle – every race accessible with minimal scrolling and no more than 1 click, and (2) I don’t have the time to create links to stories, etc.
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So, if someone would like to undertake to design the wiki so that it works as a knowledge base, while still maintaining ease of use, I don’t have any big objection. But I’m not going to be the one to do it!
You don’t have to write the articles, but you’re setting the structure. The standard way to start up a knowledge base is to make undefined terms link to edit pages for nonexistent articles. So, if you wanted to go in that direction, you’d have to make each candidate’s name default to linking to an edit page, with the candidate’s web site as a separate link. That way, people who click on the candidate names would see edit pages and be encouraged to contribute. Additionally, you could make the name of each active election a link as well, in some format you like – perhaps listing elections under the name of the district, for example “february 2006 special election”.
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The one article you would have to write is a general policy statement about point of view that people should follow. I prefer allowing for advocacy, but that may be tied in to whether Blue Mass Group endorses or not, or it may require editors to tag certain kinds of content with their names.