Pick one of the prevailing lines of phrasing in the recent polls, and publicly survey every stinkin member of the House and Senate.  Wouldn't you like to know whether Arlen Specter thinks that the country has gotten pretty much off track?  If Jon Kyl strongly approves of the job being done by the President?  If Joe Lieberman thinks that things are going well? Wouldn't any answer be a pretty lovely bit to drop into the fray of any election campaign?

For good measure, extend it to everyone currently running for a House or Senate seat.  Does Brian Bilbray think that Bush is doing an only fair job?  Does Michael Steele think that Bush has let the country get off track?

So is it even possible to get answers out of these people? I'm more than a bit skeptical, but I wonder whether it's possible if there were a major polling firm or news source behind it.  Quite frankly, refusing to participate would be a story in itself.

If they're forced onto the record even saying "I refuse to go on the record" then the story is "Well Mr. Republican in the majority, why won't you stand up and affirm your support of the direction the country is headed?"

If they say things are going well, then they're nuts (unless they're from Utah or Idaho, in which case they're probably not sweating anyhow).

If they say things are going poorly, then "Mr. Republican in the majority, why did you let that happen?"

I don't have the savvy or the connections either personal or geographical to actually get this moving in any significant way, but it seems to me like it'd be a very simple and very cheap poll.  There's no need to be providing deep analysis of cross-tabs, no need to extrapolate data or ensure a representative sample.  Ideally, it's just a few thousand phone calls and/or emails.  More likely, it's that plus a solid helping of tenacity.  But if we don't allow for anything beyond "check a box" then they're stuck no matter what.

Thoughts?