Election Candidate Questionnaire: How Long Can You Go Without Checking Your BlackBerry?

Elections are supposed to be about politics and public policy and big issues. And this election has its share of all that, given the stakes.

But elections are also about people -- the kind of people who want to run for federal office. And we at AOL News wanted to get a better sense of just who these people are.

So rather than asking a bunch of boring policy questions, we invited candidates for the House and Senate to answer 10 mostly fun questions. We got a response rate of about 5 percent. And while the results aren't exactly scientifically valid, they are still pretty interesting. Here's one of them:

How long can you go without checking your BlackBerry?

Prakash Singh, AFP / Getty Images

Half of our survey respondents said they don't own a BlackBerry.

This question was supposed to get candidates to talk about how wedded they are to their BlackBerrys. But what it turned up was something entirely different.

Half of the candidates who responded to the survey practically bragged that they don't use a BlackBerry. And about one in five boasted they they use a different smart phone, like the iPhone.

Example:

"I don't have one, and I hope I never need one (even if I get elected)."
-- Michael Engel, independent candidate for Massachusetts' 1st Congressional District

In any case, that can't be good news for Research in Motion.

Best answer:

"Checking it now ..."
-- Merlin Froyd, Republican candidate for California's 28th Congressional District

Find other survey results here.