Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Jerry McNerney

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep AdamBiswanger1 03:32, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Jerry McNerney

Non-notable article about a candidate. See similar discussion at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Diane Farrell.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by WatchingYouLikeAHawk (talk • contribs) .

• Keep: (a) McNerney is the Democratic NOMINEE, not just a candidate; he won the primary. (b) He's the Democratic nominee in a competitive race - it's one of only FIVE House races in California (out of 51) considered notable enough to include in United States House elections, 2006. (c) Wikipedia is not a paper encyclopedia - there is no really urgent reason to act now, rather than waiting for a month, until the early November general election, and THEN acting; (d) there have been other proposals to delete candidates for U.S. House seats; some have passed, some have failed. Citing a single AfD (above) as if it sets precedent is misleading. (e) And is the reference to the Diane Farrell deletion supposed to be ironic? At the moment, Farrell is estimated to have about a 50% chance of winning in November (see: United States House elections, 2006#Connecticut), yet wikipedia doesn't even have an article on her because no one has taken the time and effort to try to re-establish it after it was deleted in July (before the primary, for what that's worth). John Broughton | Talk 21:31, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
  • The criteria for inclusion of biographical articles are our Wikipedia:Criteria for inclusion of biographies. Being a nominee is still being a candidate, and being a candidate for elected office is not one of the criteria. The idea that we should "wait a month" is based more upon the desire to provide the publication of candidates' electoral platforms to voters during the period leading up to the election than it is on the desire to create an encyclopaedia. Wikipedia is not a soapbox for publishing candidate statements to voters. A proper rationale for keeping a biographical article should be based upon our official policies and guidelines, such as Wikipedia is not a soapbox and WP:BIO. Uncle G 00:12, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
    • Well, if someone's goal for the Jerry McNerney article was to make it a "soapbox for publishing candidate statements to voters", they certainly failed. The article mentions his stand on Iraq (one and half sentences); that's about it for being a "soapbox". John Broughton | Talk 01:12, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
      • The parts of the article that aren't simple copies of California 11th congressional district election, 2006 are sourced directly from the subject's own autobiography. Saying that one is a "nationally recognized expert" and then having Wikipedia parrot it is soapboxing, too. Uncle G 09:39, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
• Keep. Notable for his non-political work. "Jerry McNerney is a nationally recognized expert in wind engineering and renewable energy." Sometimes candidates are already notable before they run for office, whch seems to be the case here. --TruthbringerToronto (Talk | contribs) 02:59, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
  • The only source for that statement is McNerney's own autobiography. The article even cites it as the source. See Wikipedia:Autobiographies#The_problem_with_autobiographies for why such things are explicitly excluded from notability criteria. If you want to hang a rationale off that statement, please cite a source other than McNerney, and other than someone (such as this) parroting McNerney's autobiographical blurb word-for-word, who states that xe is a nationally recognized expert. Uncle G 09:39, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
• Merge to California 11th congressional district election, 2006, then this article can be recreated if he wins. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Catchpole (talk • contribs) 2006-10-06 08:21:47
• Keep the fact that McNerney is a sufficiently formidible candidate to cause President Bush to fly all the way cross country to raise money for and to stand by the 7-term incumbent in what was supposed to be a "safe" seat makes him notable. Carlossuarez46 17:37, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
• Keep. The article is well sourced to reliable sources and is verifiable. The article is relatively NPOV. I see no reason to refer to notability guidelines to prove that this article should be kept when Wikipedia policy does not indicate that it should be excluded; this is a candidate for a major party for a national office, in any event. · j e r s y k o talk · 18:04, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
• Keep or merge to California 11th congressional district election, 2006. While Wikipedia is not a crystal ball, this is a somewhat close race and some people will look to Wikipedia as a source of information on the candidate, so the article is encyclopedic up until the point that he (possibly) loses. --Interiot 22:37, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
• Keep. Referencing the Diane Farrell AfD shows that this is a bad nomination. That AfD is based on a proposed guideline and should not be used to delete an article. The same applies to this one. - Lex 15:30, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
• Keep. This guy is the candidate of a major political party in the upcoming congressional elections. Why would someone want to delete this article? ---CrabshackJoe
• Delete. This clearly does not satisfy Wikipedia:Candidates and elections. If there is useful information on the page then it should be merged into California 11th congressional district election, 2006, but candidates do not get an encyclopedia article unless they are otherwise notable.

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.