Make newspaper your source for informed voting

Here.

They.

Come.

Oh, if only we could think of them like Douglas Adams' Perfectly Normal Beasts that come thundering out of another dimension twice a year to roar briefly across our political landscape before disappearing again into the mysterious void from whence they came.

But no, this clamoring herd is not just a periodic fleeting curiosity. Some of its number will be here to stay.

And they'll be in charge.

We will call them "Mr. Commissioner" and "Madame Senator," among other honorifics. They will decide how much of our money to take and what to use it for. They will build roads and repair schools and feed the poor.

We hope.

But think about this: On Monday, the first day of filing for candidates seeking their parties' nomination for election to offices from county board member to governor of the state, the hopefuls were lined up like rock music fans to be sure they were in line when the doors opened. The reason? It gave them a chance to have their name listed first on the ballot.

The strategy is that the person in that coveted position will get a significant boost from all the voters who know so little about a given race that they will select literally the first name they see.

So, I ask you now, just as the noisy stampede of a political campaign is getting under way, will you justify that strategy? Will you be one of those voters who reconciles his civic duty with an all-but-random mark on a page or push of an electronic button?

You don't have to be. We can help, and the aim of our political reporting from now through Feb. 2 - and beyond into the November general election - is to give you the tools to make a more considered choice.

Yes, it promises to be a long election season. Even before candidates could officially announce by filing their petitions, television and radio ads have been running for weeks in at least the races for governor and U.S. senator. And we've been writing occasional stories about candidates and potential candidates all year. But the political din is only going to get louder in the weeks and months ahead.

Our jobs, as we see them, will be to manage the volume control somewhat and, most important, to cut through the bluster and accusations to help you see the true leadership potential for each candidate. We'll do that through regular objective coverage of breaking stories, candidate and issues analysis, candidate questionnaires, and truth checks on advertising claims, among other types of coverage, including editorial endorsements and letters to the editor.

The material will appear in print and on the Web and much of it will be archived online, so you won't have to worry about missing something important.

We take seriously our mission of facilitating the democracy through informing voters. Unlike Adams' mythical herd of buffalo-like creatures crossing the plains of Lamuella for just six days at a time, political candidates are with us for months and some will hang on for years to come as our community, state and national leaders.

The good thing is, we, as voters, get to decide which ones. How well informed will you be when that day of decision comes? Stick with us and no one will benefit from your uninformed check on the first name you come to on the ballot.

• Jim Slusher is an assistant managing editor at the Daily Herald.