THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506180135
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
Campaigns don't belong to the candidates. They belong to the citizens.
A lot of times, though, it may not seem that way.
Too often, citizens are treated as if they were passive spectators to the campaign rather than active participants in shaping the campaign's agenda.
We're committed to helping change that.
This year, all 140 seats of the General Assembly will be on the ballot. For the first time in more than a century, the question of which party controls the state legislature hangs in the balance.
Who will set the agenda for what the candidates this year talk about: the campaign consultants or the citizens?
Here's your chance.
Today on Page B7 is a complete list of candidates in Hampton Roads. There's also a form that readers can fill out and send in to The Virginian-Pilot about the issues they'd like to see candidates address and the questions they'd like to see them answer.
The newspaper will begin researching your questions. Responses will begin appearing sometime in August.
Also, in the coming weeks we'll be presenting other ways citizens can participate in identifying what they'd like the candidates to talk about to help develop a citizens' agenda.
The idea is, if the citizens spend some time this summer talking about what matters to them, perhaps this fall, the candidates will, too. by CNB