Election Candidate Questionnaire: The One Thing a Candidate Can't Do Without

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:

What's the one thing you couldn't live without?

Hasbro Inc. / AP

A candidate's best friend?

You'd expect family to top the list of the one thing a candidate can't live without -- after all, most like to parade their spouses, kids and relatives around on the hustings to show how family-friendly they are. But, still, fewer than a third put family (children, spouse or both) down when asked what that one thing was. Here are the leading contenders:

Family: 31 percent
Air: 10 percent
Clean water: 6 percent
Jesus: 6 percent
Other: 47 percent

Now, it's possible that some people don't think of their families as a "thing." That might explain why they chose things like iPods, golf clubs, DirecTV, ice cream, peanut butter and ... a toothbrush.

Best answer:

"My integrity -- and Opium perfume."
-- Teri Newman, Republican candidate for Illinois' 12th Congressional District

Find other survey results here.