Forget charisma..listen to their words...

[aspen1964]

..when evaluating a politician's motives....looks, eloquence, that means nothing unless the truth of what they are saying comes through unmistakenly...

...signed..Aspen1964(who still believes liars and decievers are destined for a good long time in HELL)...

 

[Silver Bullet]

Forget their words. Look at their voting records.

 

[GoSlash27]

Assuming they have one. Of course, you have to be careful to not misconstrue their reasons for voting the way they did (the opposition intentionally misleads folks). If they don't have a voting record you'll have more digging to do to figure out their motives.
One thing you don't do is assume that their party affiliation explains everything.

 

[Silver Bullet]

If you only look at a single vote, you can be mislead. For example, the pro-gun guys voted down the first gun industry protection bill because it included a provision to renew AWB.

But, you can look at how a politician has voted throughout his career to know where he stands. The NRA-ILA, GOA, and Brady ( ) are good sources for where the critters stand on RKBA.

For example,

http://www.nraila.org/Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?ID=151

Some have no voting records ? It would probably be more informative to find out who is paying their bills than to listen to what they say.

 

[GoSlash27]

I think Brady campaign is a better source than NRA for divining intentions but the best source is here.

 

[Silver Bullet]

Seems like a very impressive site, GoSlash. I'll want to study it a bit more in depth. If it's what it seems, it will be very useful.