Candidates Say They're Not Looking to Be Politicians

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.

We invited candidates for the House and Senate to answer 10 questions. We got a response rate of about 5 percent. And while the results aren't exactly scientifically valid, they are still pretty interesting. Most questions were fun, but we did ask a couple serious ones. Here's one of them:

Everyone is angry with politicians in Washington. Why do you want to be one of them?

"Politician" really is a dirty word these days. How else to explain the fact that the most popular response to the question above is "I don't." As in, I don't want to be a politician. More than a third gave that answer.

Most of the rest were only kind of, sort of, willing to admit that the job they were running for was to be a politician.

Ethan Miller, Getty Images

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill, likes that she gets to "yell on TV."

Best quotes:

"How much harder can it be than raising six kids?"
-- Keith Rothfus, Republican candidate for Pennsylvania's 4th Congressional District

"I don't just yell at the TV, I get to yell on TV."
-- Jan Schakowsky, incumbent Democratic candidate for Illinois' 9th Congressional District

"I want to get rid of my local Congress-critter, and I couldn't find anybody else qualified to run against her."
-- Dave Chapman, Republican candidate for California's 14th Congressional District

"My congressman is so bad, I had to stop complaining and do something. At 68, who needs term limits?"
-- Ted Ankrum, Democratic candidate for Texas' 10th Congressional District

"I'll never be one. I'm a scientist."
-- David Sanders, Democratic candidate for Indiana's 4th Congressional District

Joe Giblin, AP

Rhode Island GOP House candidate John Loughlin thrives on "being unpopular."

"I continue to ask myself that same question."
-- Isaac Hayes, Republican candidate for Illinois' 2nd Congressional District

"That's exactly why I'm running, because that's not the way it should be."
-- Jeff Barnett, Democratic candidate for Virginia's 10th Congressional District

"I'm a Republican from Rhode Island. I thrive on being unpopular."
-- John Loughlin, Republican candidate for Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District

"I would rather walk 10,000 miles than be in Congress. Nevertheless, I am running to oppose U.S. imperialism and tell the truth about the real crises we face today."
-- Gary Swing, Green Party candidate for Colorado's 1st Congressional District

"I don't. (Somebody has to fix their mistakes.)"
-- Mary Larkin, independent candidate for California's 17th Congressional District

Find other survey results here.