The BDN and other news sources in Maine have aspired over the years to equip Maine residents with the knowledge they need to become informed citizens.
While the ways we distribute the news have changed, the basic mission of the BDN — to inform and engage — has not. And that’s why we’re proud to introduce the newest way we’ll be offering all the news and information about issues you care about. Welcome to The Point.
The Point is launching with a few key features designed with information and engagement in mind:
— A fresh new format directs you to content that gets past the political noise and explains important Maine issues and how they affect you.
— A new “Pick Your Ballot” feature allows you to see how you match up with the candidates who will appear on the ballot when you go to the polls.
— The Point allows you one-stop access to the most comprehensive network of Maine bloggers. Those blogs include State & Capitol, written by the BDN’s political staff, which tracks political developments and shares interesting insight into Maine politics and what Maine people make of it all.
Today, candidates for public office are entering the final stretch of an expensive and polemical campaign season. Come January, a new slate of policymakers will have to set aside their differences if they believe that collaborating across party lines is key to passing policies that improve Maine.
The issues our citizen legislature tackles every day are complicated. The process through which our citizen legislators are elected is decidedly less local today than it was. That political dynamic pervades everyday policymaking well past election season. And everyday in state government, policymakers — elected, appointed and otherwise — make decisions that affect us all: the price of electricity, the standards by which we judge our students and schools, the management of our wildlife and natural resources and more.
At the BDN, we view our role as helping Maine residents make sense of the state policies that affect them and the politics that produced that outcome. We do it all with an eye toward helping Maine succeed.
As the 2014 elections pass and a new season of policymaking starts, The Point will grow into the site you turn to when you’re interested in learning what lies beneath the debate and what’s at stake. The Point will also rely on you, soliciting your ideas on how Maine can become a better place and tapping into your knowledge on how Maine can get there.
In short, the point of The Point is Maine, its politics and what to make of it. The point behind that is creating a stronger Maine.
Matthew Stone, editor