SpeakOut.com's Armchair Pundits Pick the VP Candidates

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 11, 2000 - SpeakOut.com’s national Veepstakes, a sweepstakes contest that offered every American a $15,000 opportunity to show their political acumen, has now come to an official close, and the results are remarkably similar to the prognostications of the major political commentators.

The Veepstakes contest, a nationwide political guessing game, has allowed armchair pundits to participate in the biggest election story leading up to the national conventions in August. Those entrants who correctly predicted the running mates for George W. Bush, Al Gore and the Reform presidential nominee will be placed in a random drawing for three grand prizes of $5,000. To find out who wins the challenge, participants are encouraged to visit www.veepstakes.com when the vice presidential running mates are announced to see if they have guessed correctly and won a grand prize.

In the SpeakOut.com Veepstakes, participants were asked two questions: 1) who did they predict would actually be selected as the vice-presidential running mates and 2) regardless of who they thought would be selected, who did they want to be selected. The results from the contest offer interesting insight into the minds and hearts of America’s voters.

In the final SpeakOut.com Veepstakes standings, most Americans predicted Tom Ridge, Diane Feinstein and Pat Choate would be the most likely vice presidential picks for the 2000 elections. Following are the final candidate standings according to SpeakOut.com Veepstakes participants:

SpeakOut.com Predictions for VP	SpeakOut.com Personal Choices for VP
Republican	Republican
Governor Tom Ridge – (R-PA) – 18% Elizabeth Dole – Fmr. Pres. American Red Cross – 15% Senator John McCain – (R-AZ) – 11% Rep. John Kasich – (R-OH) – 7% Governor George Pataki – (R-NY) – 4%	Elizabeth Dole – Fmr. Pres. American Red Cross – 15% Senator John McCain – (R-AZ) – 11% Colin Powell – Fmr. Chair of Joint Chiefs – 10% Rep. John Kasich – (R-OH) – 6% Alan Keyes – Former Asst. Sec. of State – 6%
Democrat	Democrat
Senator Dianne Feinstein – (D-CA) – 15% Senator Bill Bradley – (D-NJ) – 13% Senator Evan Bayh – (D-IN) – 12% Senator Bob Graham – (D-FL) – 7% Rep. Richard Gephardt – (D-MO) – 6%	Senator Bill Bradley – (D-NJ) – 12% Senator Dianne Feinstein – (D-CA) – 10% Senator Evan Bayh – (D-IN) – 7% Ann Richards – Fmr. Gov. Texas – 6% Rep. Richard Gephardt – (D-MO) – 6%
Reform	Reform
Pat Choate – Reform Party Chairman – 18% Alan Keyes – Former Asst. Sec. of State – 10% Governor Jesse Ventura – (Reform-MN) – 9% Senator John McCain – (R-AZ) – 4% John Hagelin – (Natural Law Party) – 4%	Governor Jesse Ventura – (Reform-MN) – 16% Alan Keyes – Fmr. Asst. Sec. of State – 11% Pat Choate – Reform Party Chairman – 10% Senator John McCain – (R-AZ) – 7% Jerry Brown – Mayor of Oakland, CA – 7%

About SpeakOut.com

Based in Washington, DC, SpeakOut.com (www.speakout.com) is the leading non-partisan Internet activism Web site and online opinion research company. Launched in February 2000, Speakout.com’s primary mission is to enhance the democratic process by enabling citizens to have a direct impact on the decisions that affect their lives. Users enjoy a wide variety of news and information tailored to their interests and activism tools allowing aggregated messaging to a vast array of public officeholders, candidates, business and news executives.

Contacts

Rekha Chalasani
rekhac@speakoutfoundation.com
SpeakOut.com
202-777-3173