DENVER -- For Adelaide Kimball, the political conventions in Denver and St. Paul, Minn. are a kind of political resume builder.

Candidates from both parties will promise voters they'll find fixes for all the problems that ail the country. Yet in politics, finding truth is no small task.

Enter Project Vote Smart.

The nonprofit organization bills itself as a way for voters to defend themselves against the spin of politicians, said Project Vote Smart board member Adelaide Kimball.

Based in Montana, the project's volunteers research the backgrounds and records of thousands of political candidates and elected officials to discover their voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 100 competing special interest groups.

The data is then compiled into an easy to use Web site -- VoteSmart.org. The site is a kind of political junkie heaven, but also an important and useful resource for voters.

"It gives voters a sense of how politicians will do their job in November," Kimball said.

Kimball said the project has a window of opportunity to help voters "bypass the spin of the politicians."

For example, when Michelle Obama said during the opening night of the Democratic National Convention that her husband and nominee Sen. Barack Obama moved people from welfare, passed tax cuts and worked for equal pay for work, a voter can check the claim against Obama's congressional record in the Illinois state senate.

The project works to maintain its nonpartisan stance, Kimball said. All the data is reviewed five times and the analysis is completed by political science professors.

The core of its independence, however, is the money, she said.

The project refuses to take money from anyone who lobbies government at any level. The standard makes the project completely reliant on donations -- as long as they don't come from lobbyists.

The financial independence ensures the reliability of the information, Kimball said.

Project Campaigning For Its Own Followers

Kimball said in 2004 VoteSmart.org received more than 16 million views a day. She hopes that number will increase in 2008, but admits the project is fighting an uphill battle. Only 10 percent of the country knows about the project, Kimball said.

"Our hope is when enough people find out about us, they won't have to let the spin determine their vote," she said.

To help spread the word, the project is doing some campaigning of its own, taking to the road in a large bus and setting up in college campuses and even political conventions.

Tony Boehm, 24, joined the staff in October doing research for the site's massive database. Beohm spent Tuesday afternoon trying to grab people outside the Colorado Convention Center to invite them inside the Project Vote Smart bus, where staffers help guests become familiar with the Web site.

The bus has its own theater that plays a 10-minute video about the project. Boehm said about 100 people stopped by the mobile bus on Monday. By the responses left on a giant balloon, the need for a consolidated source of nonpartisan information about candidates is great.

"Seriously dude, where do you stand?" wrote Randy from Connecticut.

"Can't you just debate the issues?" asked another.

Kimball said most people are "smart enough to sense when there are being mislead."

Political ads are filled with mostly shaky promises and rhetoric, she said. But the stump speeches and other official looking venues are taken more seriously.

That's where the project comes in, she said -- to compare the candidates' stances versus what they have actually done. Kimball said she has faith in the voters to find the truth. She hopes the Web site will help them find it.

Patricia from California seems to agree when she wrote on the inflatable balloon: "We can take the truth, so please tell us."