Public Agenda: First Choice 2004

First Choice 2004

Know What You Want Before You Choose Who You Want

Most voters' guides compare the candidates. That's useful, but how can you decide who you want in office until you're sure about what you want that politician to do? And these days that's harder to figure out than it should be, particularly for young or first-time voters.

When politicians present their plans, they naturally play up the quick, easy, cheap part of their program and downplay the messy, expensive, risky parts. In reality, however, many problems don't get solved without facing harsh choices; the government can't avoid pleasing some people and offending others.

First Choice 2004 is designed to help you make the most of your vote by having strong, informed opinions about what those choices might be. With these guides, you can find out more about the problems facing the nation and be better armed when considering the plans politicians put forward.

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Set Your Own Priorities

Making public policy decisions isn’t just about choosing the best way of attacking a problem – you also have to consider which problem should be tackled first. There are lots of things the government could do, and many it should do, but not even the federal government can do everything at once. So priorities have to be set. With our First Things First feature on Public Agenda Online, you can work through what you think the next administration should do –- and what it should do first.

To find out more about the candidates and the campaign, visit our partners, The New York Times Learning Network and MTV's Choose or Lose.

Funding for First Choice 2004 was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.