There's got to be a better way......

The Houston Chronicle's Chase Davis has put together a great idea for the Knight News Challenge.

His idea for a sort of collaborative lawmaking site --- to put it lightly --- is very interesting.

I covered the Legislature for about two years at The Oklahoman before becoming the database editor. When I stepped back and noticed how we covered the Legislature --- afraid to miss any little event, a feeling of obligation to write about every back-and-forth political nonsense spewed in a "statement" --- I always thought there had to be a better way.

I just didn't know what it was.

I think sometimes we fell in the trap of thinking the public gave a crap about what went on inside the state Capitol. We thought the public cared whether former House Speaker Todd Hiett and Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan got along.

Or whether they called each other names.

Kings in a castle syndrome, I suppose.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could find a way to combine our knowledge of the beat and how things work in legislative bodies with the power of the Web? Like I said, Chase's idea really seems like a gigantic step in that direction.

I've really got a data crush on some of the stuff the folks at the NY Times are doing with some of the national elections, such as this gem on visits by candidates. They did something similar with campaign contributions.

I've always thought it'd be wonderful to come up with a way to show a flow of campaign contributions vs. bills moving through the Legislature. And we wouldn't have to stop there --- you could add in a number of other variables.

Again, I'm not sure what else, though.

But there's got to be a better way.