take the measure of

“I wanted to take the measure of this man who had been my obsession for so long,” he wrote in his memoir, “Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults.”

What that analysis overlooks, however, is the jury’s natural desire to take the measure of the woman who propelled the crisis and about whom they had heard so much.

As in ancient Greece or the early United States, citizens can take the measure of the people who want to represent them.

They can take the measure of her.

But they also take the measure of candidates, first and foremost, as human beings — ones who reflect the realities of their own lives.