             //println("Data: ")
             //println(data)
             // data is a huge dictionary, where keys are id's, objects are dictionaries - these dictionaries contain a key "name" - a human readable name string...
-            let dataSet:Dictionary<String, Dictionary<String, AnyObject>> = data as Dictionary<String, Dictionary<String, AnyObject>>
+            let dataSet:Dictionary<String, Dictionary<String, AnyObject>> = data as! Dictionary<String, Dictionary<String, AnyObject>>
             
             let dataKeys:Array<String> = dataSet.keys.array;
             

                    
                    // they're standing this year!
                    // let's instanciate a candidate object for them, and add relevant information...
                    var name = personInfo["name"] as String
                    var partyMemberships = personInfo["party_memberships"] as NSDictionary
                    var partyName = partyMemberships.objectForKey("2015")?.objectForKey("name") as NSString
                    var candidate:Candidate = Candidate(name: name, party: partyName)

                    array.append(candidate)
                }

            
            var standingCandidates:Array<Dictionary<String, AnyObject>> = Array<Dictionary<String, AnyObject>>();
            
            var dataDict:Dictionary<String, AnyObject> = data as! Dictionary<String, AnyObject>
            var results = dataDict["result"] as! Dictionary<String, AnyObject>
            var memberships = results["memberships"] as! Array<Dictionary<String, AnyObject>>

            
            for member in memberships {
                var personInfo = member["person_id"] as! Dictionary<String, AnyObject>
                var standing: AnyObject? = personInfo["standing_in"]
                var standingDict:NSDictionary = standing as! NSDictionary
                if (standingDict.objectForKey("2015") != nil) {
                    // also check for <null> strings, grrrr....
                    var standingDetails: AnyObject? = standingDict.objectForKey("2015")
