Writers spent thousands of hours researching the politicians to compile facts about their backgrounds, what offices they have held and their political alliances - a.k.a. clout.
Cloutwiki.com runs on a special software that allows an endless number of links to other Cloutwiki articles as well as other Web sites.
The site is the brainchild of attorney Jay Paul Deratany and Democratic political consultant Mike Fourcher. Mr. Deratany most recently ran a losing campaign for commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review on an anti-corruption, reform platform.
