New PolitiFact features to hold governors accountable

Over the weekend, three of our eight state PolitiFact sites introduced features to track the campaign promises of their new governors.

Using the same approach as our Obameter and GOP Pledge-O-Meter, the new state features will show how well governors are keeping their promises. The state PolitiFact sites will rate the progress of each promise (In the Works or Stalled) and then whether it has been fulfilled (Promise Kept, Promise Broken or Compromise). The state sites will provide a running tally so you"ll be able to see every day how each governor is doing.

We"ve launched the new promise meters in these states:

• PolitiFact Wisconsin"s Walk-O-Meter will keep tabs on Gov. Scott Walker, who took office Monday.
• PolitiFact Florida"s Scott-O-Meter is tracking Rick Scott, who is being sworn in today.
• PolitiFact Rhode Island"s Linc-O-Meter is following the promises of Lincoln Chafee, the former U.S. senator also being sworn in today.

The promise features are fascinating because they show both trees and forest. They show individual promises such as blocking the high-speed rail project in Wisconsin (already a Promise Kept for Walker) and Scott"s ambitious pledge to create 700,000 new jobs in Florida.

Some of the promises reveal the unique characters of different states, such as Walker"s pledge to "appoint a Whitetail Deer Trustee" to revise Wisconsin"s deer-counting system and Chafee"s vow to "champion" same-sex marriage.

We"ll be unveiling promise meters in our other PolitiFact states soon. And as always, if you have a suggestion for a promise (or a factual claim) that you think we should check, please let us know.