There was a time when all candidates did to demonstrate their support for children and families was kiss babies on the campaign trail or surround themselves with their own happy children. Today candidates know they have to point to specific programs and policies to demonstrate commitment to children's issues. But getting past the rhetoric to know who's for kids and who's just kidding is still no easy task.

Candidates across the political spectrum will talk about their own efforts to fight for children and demonize their opponents' record. We can all easily sift through the obvious rhetoric such as "children are our most precious resource," but some other rhetoric may be more difficult to interpret.

Listen carefully for "clue" words—words that are specific enough to energize supporters, but vague enough to also sound appealing to swing voters. These words tend to revolve around each party's underlying philosophies such as federal vs. state responsibility or competition vs. control. Thus, Democrats talk about national standards, Republicans talk about federal bureaucratic regulation. Republicans believe a free market system with healthy competition will achieve the best results, while Democrats want to ensure results with policy.

These "clue" words are frequently changing as the public becomes indoctrinated into the language. For example, proponents used to speak of school vouchers as "parents having the ability to choose which school to send their child." People now understand that "school choice" means "school vouchers" so proponents have used the term "scholarships" instead. While this list could probably be much longer, listen for the following "clue" words this election year.

The Rhetoric The Reality
General
Restructure	Means	Cut funding
Keep more earnings	Means	Reduce taxes
Invest/investment	Means	Increase budgets/new funding
Protect/plan for the future	Means	Deficit reduction
Federal bureaucratic control/ strip local control/ run from Washington	Means	Federal funding/federal regulations
Local control/community control	Means	Block grants to states
Ensure/require	Means	Regulate
Children-specific
Burden our children	Means	Deficit reduction/government spending
Tough standards/accountability	Means	Student testing
Reward good teachers	Means	Merit pay
Right start	Means	Early education
Early education/child development	Means	Child care
Make available/affordable	Means	Loans/tax credits/tax deductions
Parental control/parental choice/ low-income scholarships	Means	School vouchers

Furthermore, don't fall for a candidate's charge that their opponent "voted to kill," "opposed," or "wouldn't even allow discussion" for a program that sounds worthy of support. Legislation is never as clear-cut as the rhetoric sounds.

Evaluating the message
Get past the 30-second campaign commercials, the evening news soundbites, and the newspaper articles that only talk about a candidate's standing in the polls, not the issues. These bits and pieces of information are not a genuine reflection of the candidate, and will not give you a real sense of what they will do once in office.

Start with the candidate. Ask for the candidate's issue paper on children and families. Try to determine if the candidate's underlying philosophy on children's policy is similar to yours. Let each candidate speak only for themselves and be wary of what they say about their opponents.

Find out if your newspaper will have a special article, section, or series on the candidates that will provide an in-depth look at their positions. If the newspaper has not included election coverage of children's issues in the past, request that they do so.

Watch the candidate debates carefully. Debates can shed light on the policy differences between candidates, especially those debates centered around one issue area. Unlike paid advertising which goes unanswered, debates are a forum in which candidates can interact to keep each other honest on the issues.

As you review the candidate's materials, newspaper coverage and debate performance, look for the following:

• Priority
  What priority does the candidate give to children's issues in their campaign materials and speeches? Most candidates center their campaign around one over-riding theme that symbolizes what they will prioritize in office, and they take this theme seriously. Does the candidate's theme demonstrate a sensitivity to children and families?
• Breadth
  Does the candidate link a variety of issues—health, safety, economic security—to children, or do they stop with education? A candidate who understands the ways in which all issues link to children will be a more powerful advocate than one who thinks "children's issue = education."
• Substance
  How does the candidate plan to act on behalf of children once in office, and how have they demonstrated concern for children in the past? Every candidate has a history. If they have held office before, what did they do on behalf of children? If they have not held office before, what can they point to in their past that demonstrates their willingness to act on behalf of children once in office?

Going Deeper
Unlike years past, you no longer have to rely on others—the media, the candidates, advocacy groups—to provide you with the answers. The Internet has become a powerful grassroots tool for quickly getting the answers you need.

• First, check the candidate's Web site, if they have one. Are children and family issues given priority on the site or are they ignored? Many candidates post their issue positions in detail, including legislation they have supported and press releases with their beliefs.
• Look at the agenda of the candidate's political party. The national Democratic Party [1] and Republican Party [2] web sites outline the party's viewpoint on issues, and link to state party sites as well.
• Not sure how you feel about a specific policy position? Check out policy.com [3]. This site provides a wealth of detailed policy information, and a chance to interact with others to help sort out the pros and cons of a policy. Or, you can read congressional legislation for yourself at Thomas [4].
• To see what individual states are doing, look at the National Conference of State Legislatures' [5] site. It has information on a variety of policies, trends in state legislation and links to state sites.
• If you only have the time or inclination to stop at one site, Project Vote Smart [6] is probably the most comprehensive Internet source of information on politics. On this site you will find voting records, campaign positions and advocacy groups' performance evaluations for thousands of public officials nationwide.
• Just for fun, make presidential decisions on the Atlantic Monthly [7] site. Here you are provided with the arguments on each side of a policy, and asked to make a decision. Then you can compare your decision with other would-be presidents.

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Meg Bostrom has spent her career as an advisor to nonprofits, issue advocacy organizations, politicians and corporations throughout the United States and Canada. As vice president of research and strategic planning at the advertising agency of Trahan, Burden and Charles, she uses her social scientist training to provide a broad understanding of the public attitudes that underpin trends. Since 1991, children and family issues have been a favorite area of emphasis for Meg, conducting research for the Coalition for America's Children, the Ms. Foundation, the American Association of School Administrators, the Department of Labor, Children Now and the Children's Defense Fund, among others.

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