STUMP: media and politics

Stump Speech Update

Here's an idea for a politics story that's been floating around the halls of The Poynter Institute for some time now.

What if you printed incumbent candidates' old stump speeches and matched them with their records in office? Did they do what they said they would? Did they try? Give them a chance to respond.

This doesn't have to be just for incumbents, either. Match Senator Kerry's last Congressional term with President Bush's Presidential term. Which man stuck closest to his rhetoric?

"I am stinking, furious mad."

That was Howard Troxler's lead in his column a week ago in the St. Petersburg Times. "Mad enough to light a torch and march on Tallahassee," he continued. "Mad enough that I had better not run into any member of the Florida Legislature today."

What got him so riled up?