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Props and gimmicks are no substitute for measured, deliberate reporting but in a pinch they can illustrate a tricky political point in a memorable and clever way. Perhaps youll be inspired to experiment.
 Governor: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Twin Cities Public Television (TPT)  Minneapolist/St. Paul, Minn.
watch clip|clip run time » 4:58
In this segment of "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" TPT's Mary Lahammer compares Governor Pawlenty's budget priorities with stands he took as a candidate.
Putting Their Money Where Their Mouth(s) Is(Are)
Twin Cities Public Television : Minn./St. Paul, Minnesota
air date » 2002
clip run times » 6:54, 1:55
contributed by Bill Hanley, Executive Vice President of Content, Twin Cities Public Television (TPT)
 Okay. So we like gimmicks at TPT. Whats it to ya?
Seriously though (this is public broadcasting, after all) we like this gimmick quite a lot. The idea is simple. In debates, candidates try to please everyone by supporting everything. At the very least they try to get away with vague answers. Tough questioning can clarify this situation only slightly.
This summer, TPT inaugurated Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, a regular feature designed to force candidates to make tough choices&and visibly weigh competing priorities. Minnesota currently has four legally qualified major parties (Democrats, Republicans, Greens and whatever Jesse is). Heres how we think this gimmick will work in this Gubernatorial match-up.
1. Prior to the first debate we asked each of Minnesotas Gubernatorial candidates to sit for a pre-debate interview. This was a requirement to participate in the debate.
2. Along with the normal background questions, each candidate was asked to sit at a table upon which were seven cards, each bearing the name of a state budget spending priority.
3. They were handed a pile of 100 single dollar bills and asked to treat this money as if it were the entire state budget for one year.
4. We watched and talked with them as they divided the 100 bills among the seven competing spending priorities.
5. Throughout the rest of the campaign we envision regularly referring to each candidates priority rankings and using them as a way of comparing the candidates.
6. These rankings are prominently posted on TPT.org.
7. Viewers are encouraged to do the rankings for themselves and then compare their choices with those of all of the candidates, thus giving these citizens a new and unique way of reevaluating their choice for Governor of Minnesota.
Before we started, the big question was How can you be sure every candidate will be willing to do this? We didnt know if they would, but it worked and they all agreed to play along with our money game. TPT has a long track record doing these sorts of things and Minnesota politicians know they pay a price for shying away. They also really like and trust our political reporter, Mary Lahammer. We will let them go through the exercise again to revise their judgments if they want to.
[watch RealVideo clips on TPTs web site]
Four candidates for governor play money game in debate
by Conrad deFiebre, Minnesota Star Tribune (1.Aug.02)
Asked to divvy up taxpayers money in their prospective state budgets, the endorsed candidates for governor from Minnesotas four major parties showed surprising similarities and a few marked differences Wednesday evening in their first televised debate. [read the full story]
Presidental Poker
 San Francisco, California
clip run time » 2:11
Can same-day voter registration help cross-over candidates who have the deck stacked against them?
Virtual Debate
San Francisco, California
clip run time » 2:32
What if you throw a debate and nobody comes? KRON had tried to unite four candidates for a live televised event, but couldnt get them all to commit. Their creative solution: a virtual debate lacing clips of the candidates issue statements with humor.
Veto Pencil Drop
Wisconsin Public Television Madison, Wisconsin
clip run time » 0:32
When the Wisconsin governor developed an unchallenged penchant for the line-item veto, WPT used real pencils to show viewers just how many times this power had been used.
Equalization Formula Poker
Wisconsin Public Television Madison, Wisconsin
clip run time » 4:47
To explain a rather complicated system for determining state funding for schools in different tax districts, a wealthy fisherman and a working-class miner sat down for a high-stakes, tongue-in-cheek poker game.
Citizen Durst: Tax Pies
The Working Group : Oakland, California
clip run time » 1:57
As part of the witty Citizen Durst series of election-process commentaries, Will Durst takes his piece of the pie literally.
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