But underneath the jabs and clatter, Pennsylvania is actually experimenting with new technology to focus debate on truly significant statewide issues. The breakthrough device is a specially designed Web site focused on the gubernatorial contest between former Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell, a Democrat, and Attorney General Mike Fisher, a Republican.
By Election Day, 80,000 to 100,000 Pennsylvanians -- reporters and policy analysts, and most important, ordinary citizens -- are expected to have viewed the site. With a few mouse clicks, they can tap information ranging from brief candidates' biographies to directories of top issues showing how the contenders (in their own words) stand on them.
There's a news page with current press reports from across the state. Viewers can find in-depth information on key issues, including "reality check" information on hard choices a governor would have to make in actually changing policies on education, taxes and the environment.
Also, easy-to-grasp graphics show Pennsylvania's performance compared to other states, on measures from tax burdens to population growth or decline.
Through "ePanels," citizens can read tough policy challenges posted by experts, and they can contribute their own ideas. Each posting has an "encourage" or "discourage" button on it, so every participant gets to rate other posts, and any sloppy or "flaming" postings quickly fall to the bottom.
IssuesPA isn't an instant creation. Since 1996, the Philadelphia Inquirer has sponsored forums and Internet sites that give citizens a chance to confer and help define issues their way -- not the political handlers' way. In the 1999 Philadelphia mayor's race, over 400 citizens helped define major issues and then framed questions to be posed to candidates in televised debates.
But the sponsorship of this year's IssuesPA plows fresh ground. On one side, there's the 66-year old, highly respected Pennsylvania Economy League, with 250 business leaders on its local boards. The league's strength: A reputation for sound, unbiased research on issues facing the state. Its weakness: A tough time translating its materials for the general public to absorb.
So the league decided to team with Scott Reents, a twenty-something Manhattan-based Internet wizard who created a non-profit called the Democracy Project aimed at creating web-based "citizen-centric public spaces," intended to set a "high standard of civil discourse."
Reents and his partner Michael Weiksner had already won favorable notice for trial election projects in 2000 and 2001, working with the Philadelphia Inquirer, the College of New Jersey, the Bergen Record and New Jersey Public Television. Their use of the net was so imaginative that Alex Sheshunoff, president of the "e.thePeople" political website, donated his operation and Web site to the two young Web site developers.
This fall, ethePeople is also teaming up with newspapers to create election-oriented Web sites in Seattle and Rochester, N.Y. But the signature project is clearly Pennsylvania's, made especially broad by partnership with the Economy League. The league provides basic research for the site, guarantees objectivity and has conducted statewide polls to identify issues on voters' minds.
It's also deep into issue polling and candidate questionnaires and has been the sponsor of the only Rendell-Fisher debates broadcast statewide.
Some major foundation assistance has helped -- a lead gift of $500,000 from the Heinz Endowment, backed up by $640,000 from the Pew Charitable Trusts, $100,000 from the Pittsburgh Foundation and $35,000 from the William Penn Foundation.
The project's total impact, says Economy League Executive Director David Thornburgh, "has been extraordinary" -- especially for a state historically plagued by bitterly partisan politics and, as Thornburgh confesses, "never at the forefront of informed civic dialogue."
IssuesPA is also creating a single conversation in a mega-state divided into localized -- and often very parochial -- media markets.
"It's impacted what the candidates are talking about; we're asking them detailed questions and forcing them to address where they stand on issues," said Thornburgh.
Can other states emulate the new Pennsylvania model? Not all have a Pennsylvania Economy League, nor the reserve of "old" and thoughtful philanthropic money being thrown behind IssuesPA.
Still, Pennsylvania's model -- a traditional civic group combining forces with Web site developers, creating an environment in which issues, at last, have a chance to be heard -- may have the appeal to spread nationwide in the next years.
