Interviews were conducted face to face in 36 randomly selected constituencies countrywide.
The Oxford University psephologist David Butler once tried to persuade the big parties not to campaign in selected constituencies, to see whether it made any difference.
Mr. Rove answered his chosen question by courting carefully selected constituencies with poll-tested promises: tax cuts for traditional conservatives; the No Child Left Behind law for suburban moderates; prescription drugs for anxious seniors; open immigration for Hispanics; faith-based programs for evangelicals and Catholics.
Members already get to vote to select constituency candidates.
The challenge is selecting constituencies and polling stations that together are somewhat representative of the country as a whole.
We selected a constituency in North Central Trinidad which was considered to be representative of the socio-economic and ethnic characteristics of the country.
A further factor ensuring a select constituency was the influx of 6,000 refugees from France, Italy, Spain, and, for a time, from England into a city of 13,000.
Dressed as his character, a Mexican transfer student running for high school class president, Ramirez delivered what he calls his "campaign speech" at Pacific's Grove theater in Hollywood before a select constituency: registered members of the "Napoleon Dynamite" fan club.
Before the general election of that year he subsidised the efforts of Tory candidates in selected marginal constituencies, with impressive results.
Under current law, the chief executive is chosen by an Election Committee, whose approximately 1,200 members are selected by constituencies generally loyal to Beijing and the city's business elite.
All experience shows that change will not happen by osmosis – there will need to be, in the developing world and elsewhere, mechanisms designed to guarantee that women will be selected in constituencies where they have a strong change of being elected.
