Map Request Draws Hoots From Some Lawmakers

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Halloween has arrived early in the Senate in the form of an innocent E-mail from National Geographic. The magazine's request: Have senators free-hand the outline of their state and stick in three geographic highlights. For some lawmakers, it's a treat. Politico's Anne Schroeder, for example, tells us that new Minnesota Sen. Al Franken can do the whole United States. But aides to other lawmakers see a trick: What if their boss messes up? "If your state is Colorado, you can just write that in the box," says a Democratic aide. "But if it's something a bit more complicated, say like Hawaii, you better be careful." Below is the letter sent to senators:

Dear Senator:

We'd like to invite you to draw a map...for a project at the National Geographic web site.

We're hoping to create a gallery of hand-drawn maps at our site. We're asking the senators from each state if they'd be willing to print out the attached PDF and draw their state from memory. We'd also like to ask that you then identify at least three places . . . that are important to you, with the reason you chose each one. We know the maps won't be perfect. We're hoping for your personal depiction of your state.

We plan to create a gallery of these maps at ngm.com. We think this would be a great way to get people thinking—and talking—about the art of drawing maps, which is an important part of geography education in this country.

We appreciate your busy schedule, but we hope that as a representative of your state, you'll be able to find a few minutes to participate in this project. We are hoping to collect the maps from senators who participate by the end of October, and launch our gallery in time for Geography Awareness Week in mid-November.