BULLETIN: Important Politico.com Update: A problem- 1/15/08

Tue Jan 15 12:00:52 EST 2008

- IMPORTANT POLITICO.COM UPDATE!!

Dear Diane,

Our Politico.com campaign is doing wonderfully!  As of 8:00 this morning
(California time), all five of the questions we posted yesterday made it
into the "Top 20"  on the Democratic site and in the "Top 32" on the
Republican side, from more than 1500 questions posted!  The rankings of our
5 Marriage Education questions this morning were: Democratic: 5, 7, 8, 14,
17  and  Republican: 15, 21, 22, 31, 32

This shows how strong we can be when we row together and that the Marriage
Education Movement CAN have an important national voice!

However, there is a problem: Someone apparently copied and pasted from our
listserv posting--in effect, submitting the 5 questions all over again,
rather than just voting on the questions that were already submitted.  The
concern is that this will split and dilute our votes per question. To avoid
this, we'd like readers who haven't voted yet to do the following:

*  Go to www.politico.com
*  Click on  Upcoming Presidential Debates, then click on VOTE FOR
QUESTIONS (don't click on submit questions!).
*  Enter "Democratic" and then click on "MOST POPULAR".  Since the 5
questions we originally submitted are near the top of the Most Popular list,
you'll be able to find them easily, and vote for them all.
*  Then enter "Republican", click on MOST POPULAR, and scroll down to find
all 5 of our questions, and vote for them again. (You can do this - vote as
Republican and Democrat on Politico.com)

*To help the search for our 5 Marriage Education questions, here's the list
of them again:*

1)      It has been estimated that divorce in America today costs state and
Federal governments more than $100 billion annually in an array of social
services needed as a result of marital breakdown.  If you are elected
President, what steps will you take to invest this money in preventive
approaches for helping couples build healthy marriages and families?

 2)      Since marital success is correlated with many measures of social
stability--such as better mental and physical health, higher productivity in
the workplace, lower crime and less violent crime--and since Marriage
Education skills are known to correlate with marital success, what
innovative measures would you propose as President to make these
relationship skills part of the birthright of every American?

 3)      In an attempt to address the decades-long breakdown of families and
provide solutions to strengthen marriage and family relationships in our
nation's poorest and most desperate communities, Presidents Clinton and Bush
have supported back-to-back initiatives (Responsible Fatherhood Initiative
and Healthy Marriage Initiative).  As President, how will you continue
and/or expand upon these programs that break the cycle of poverty by
strengthening marriages and families in impoverished communities?

 4)      Both parties speak about the importance of family values.  Yet,
this often fails to result in action that benefits children and
families.  Since
we know the primary reason families break apart is that the relationship
between the parents breaks apart, and we know that Marriage Education and
Relationship Skills training helps couples build strong relationships, what
will you do to increase access to these programs?

 5)      Data show that parents' marital stability is correlated with a
variety of positive outcomes for their children--including higher academic
achievement, lower teen pregnancy rates, lower rates of delinquency, drug
and alcohol abuse, and better overall health.  We also know that Marriage
Education fosters marital stability.  As President of the country, what
initiatives would you propose to make Marriage Education readily available?

Also, there's another great Marriage Education question that you'll find
down the list a ways in the 70-80 range (posted earlier and not yet voted on
by the listserv).  *Vote on that one also!*

       6)  Multiple polls indicate that 90% of Americans believe that
divorce is a serious national problem. Fortunately, Marriage Education
provides a way that couples can learn the skills they need to build healthy
marriages. If you are elected President what you will do to increase access
to and participation in Marriage Education classes?

And, our thanks very much to everyone who participates in this--the
new-found political voice of Marriage Education!

Patty Howell
California Healthy Marriage Coalition

------------------
By the way, my browser won't let me see anything beyond the first 32
questions.  Which may explain why some of us aren't able to find and vote
for questions down in the 70-80 range.  I know to click on the next pages,
but each page then only shows one question....  I'm on Mozilla on a MAC and
am not upgraded past OX 10.3.9....I will upgrade to Leopard AFTER San
Francisco.  - diane

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