Some try to split the difference to find a middle position on each issue that is acceptable to both sides, while others draw part of their views from one side of the spectrum and part from the opposite side.

We tend to appreciate and encourage moderates of all different types. But there's one approach that we feel offers the brightest prospects for strong and effective leadership. It was pioneered by dozens of leading public officials at the state and national levels.

First, these are the bold types of centrists who take strong positions on the issues and pursue a distinct and coherent agenda. You see a clear pattern in their policies that typically swings to the left on cultural issues, such as abortion and gay rights, but to the right on economic and fiscal issues, such as free trade, spending, and deficit reduction.

Typically, these candidates receive high ratings from pro-growth and business interest groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce, but low ratings from culturally conservative groups, such as the Christian Coalition.

A second quality shared by these candidates tends to temper and balance the first, while also helping distinguish them from what you find elsewhere in our political system.

Our system today is ideologically polarized, due partly to the way congressional districts are drawn to provide "safe" seats for conservative Republicans or liberal Democrats. Many of the candidates who win these elections have a fairly strict ideological approach to the issues. Some receive 100% ratings from ideological interest groups, reflecting their tendency to place ideology above all other considerations on each issue.

Candidates who fit the bold centrist model take strong positions and push for a coherent agenda, but they rarely receive 100% ratings from any interest group. They have a strong fundamental focus, but they also examine each policy individually and are capable of diverging from the overall pattern in select cases.

In other words, they have an open mind. They don't just look at the idea behind a policy, or where it fits on the ideological spectrum. They look at the details and ask what practical effects that policy may have.

Rep. Chris Shays (R) of Connecticut is a good example. He has a particularly bold record -- solid in embracing pro-growth economic policies, but also strong on government reform issues. He was the chief Republican sponsor of the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill, an initiative that ultimately succeeded in bringing fundamental reform to the electoral process.

On the one hand, Rep. Shays embraces a variety of conservative fiscal and economic policies, including free trade, welfare reform, partial privatization of Social Security, and bankruptcy reform. He favors tax cuts on capital gains, small businesses, and eliminating the estate tax.

On the other hand, he is pro-choice, pro-gay rights, and has a strong environmental record, to go along with his passionate advocacy of campaign finance reform.

Rep. Shays takes strong positions, but he doesn't receive 100% conservative ratings on economic policy, or 100% liberal ratings on social policy. He strikes that key balance between promoting strong policies and carefully considering each proposal.

This style of centrist leadership can be found in significant numbers on both sides of the political aisle -- from Democrats such as Rep. Ellen Tausher and Sen. Mary Landreau, to Republicans such as Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins, to independents like former Gov. Angus King of Maine.

By our estimation, these kinds of bold centrists make up approximately 5% of the current U.S. Congress. One of our aims is to increase that number -- to put bold centrists in government at all levels.

We think most Americans would experience this kind of bold but sensible leadership as a refreshing alternative to the more traditional politics of left and right we currently get from most elected officials.