Help us build the House GOP-O-Meter!

During the 2010 campaign, Republicans told voters they would do things differently. They promised to reduce spending, stop tax hikes, and repeal the health care law. How will they fare with their promises? Will they be able to enact their agenda? Time for a new meter!

Back in 2008, we decided to track all the campaign promises of the new president, who turned out to be Barack Obama. With our Obameter, we’ve been monitoring more than 500 of Obama’s promises and rating their progress and whether they have been fulfilled. The categories are In the Works, Stalled, Promise Kept, Promise Broken and Compromise.

With the Republicans winning the House, it’s time to create a new meter. And we’d like your help.

First, we’d like you to suggest promises we should check. We’re already gathering promises from the Republican Party’s campaign document “A Pledge to America,” as well as from notable speeches from leaders such as Ohio Republican John Boehner, the likely Speaker of the House for the next Congress. But we’re bound to miss a few. So e-mail us at truthometer@politifact.com, comment on our Facebook page or send us a Twitter message and let us know which Republican promises need to be tracked most closely.

The main requirement is that the promises meet the same criteria we set for the Obameter: “a prospective statement of an action or outcome that is verifiable.” That means we can agree on what it means and measure it. And we have to be able to point to when and where the promise was made, either in a published statement or recorded remarks.

Second, we’d like you to help us name our new meter. Should it be the Boehner-O-Meter? The GOP-O-Meter? Something else? If we select your idea, we’ll send you a special prize to say thanks.

We’ll debut our new meter tracking the Republican promises in the next few weeks, so keep checking back!