Resources for the 2008 Elections

February 2008--The Libraries present this handy list of election-oriented Web sites.  Start here whether you want to stay informed or write better research papers.

Background and general election information

• The Campaign Legal Center  http://www.camlc.org   Non-profit, nonpartisan center follow and initiates legal action on issues.
• Campaigns & Elections  http://www.campaignsandelections.com  Trade magazine for political professionals.
• Federal Election Commission  http://www.fec.gov/index.shtml  Provides information about legal and regulatory rules relating to federal campaign finance issues.
• Project Vote Smart  http://www.vote-smart.org/  Candidates’ biographies, voting records, campaign finances and interest group ratings.
• Rock the Vote  http://www.rockthevote.com/  Rock the Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization.
• The University of Michigan Documents Center: Elections 2008 http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/elec2008.html  Comprehensive guide covering all aspects of the election process.
• U.S. Electoral College  http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/  Includes information on the electoral process and the 2008 Presidential election.

Fact checking

• FactCheck  http://www.factcheck.org  From the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, evaluates the accuracy of campaign claims.
• Politifact  http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/  A project of the St. Petersburg Times and CQ (Congressional Quarterly), uses scorecards, factsheets and articles to review claims made by candidates and attacks from opponents.

Money in politics

• CampaignMoney  http://www.campaignmoney.com  Allows visitors to find campaign finance data; includes searching for contributions by zip code, individual name or address, and political action committees.
• Follow the Money  http://www.followthemoney.org/index.phtm  The National Institute on Money in State Politics provides information on the state level by contributor and industry.
• Open Secrets http://opensecrets.org  The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) provides data about campaign contribution donor and recipients, lobbying, and advocacy group spending.

Political news sites

• Campaign U.  http://chronicle.com/blogs/election/  Published by the Chronicle of Higher Education, provides links to articles and blogs focusing on the 2008 elections as they affect students, colleges and universities, and higher education policy.
• CNN Election Center 2008  http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/
• C-SPAN Online  http://www.c-span.org/  Political coverage from C-SPAN.
• CQPolitics  http://www.cqpolitics.com  Provided by Congressional Quarterly (CQ) with political news, political blogs and articles.
• Google News' dedicated election news site:  http://news.google.com/news?topic=el
• Indecision 2008  http://www.indecision2008.com  From Comedy Central, provides video clips, interviews, a political news blog, and other campaign coverage and resources.
• NPR Election 2008  http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1102#/primaries/  From NPR (National Public Radio).
• New York Times Election Guide  http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/index.html
• YouTube: You Choose '08  http://www.youtube.com/youchoose See debate videos here.

Political party sites

• Democratic Party
  • Home Page of the Democratic National Committee  http://www.democrats.org/
  • Democratic National Convention  http://www.demconvention.com/
• Republican Party
  • Home Page of the Republican National Committee  http://www.rnc.org/
  • Republican National Convention  http://www.gopconvention.com/
• Libertarian Party  http://www.lp.org/  One of several Home Pages for Libertarians.
• Reform Party  http://www.reformparty.org/  The Official site for information on the Reform Party.
• Green Parties  http://www.greens.org/ The Green Parties of North America with a link to Ralph Nader's Web page.
• The New Party  http://www.newparty.org/  Home Page of a new progressive party running candidates in local elections and building toward a national presence.
• Democratic Socialists of America Party  http://www.dsausa.org/

Poll information sites

• PollingReport.com  http://www.pollingreport.com/2008.htm  Ongoing collection of nonpartisan and partisan national polls.
• Pollster.com  http://www.pollster.com  Tracks, aggregates, and analyses political polls.

Presidential candidate homepages

• Hillary Clinton (D)  http://www.hillaryclinton.com/
• John McCain (R)  http://www.johnmccain.com/
• Barack Obama (D)  http://www.barackobama.com/
• Ron Paul (R)  http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
• Ralph Nader (I) http://www.votenader.org/index.html

Presidential candidate matching

• Presidential Match Game (USA Today)  http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/candidate-match-game.htm  Answer 11 questions to find your best Presidential candidate match.
• SelectSmart.com Presidential Candidate Selector  http://www.selectsmart.com/president/2008.html  Select Presidential candidate based on answers to 27 questions and their ranking in importance.
• VoteHelp.org  http://www.votehelp.org/  VoteHelp is a nonpartisan candidate calculator that tracks the main politicians' stands on important issues.

Register to vote and find polling places in Wisconsin

• National Mail Voter Registration Form  http://www.eac.gov/voter/Register%20to%20Vote
• Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, Elections Division  http://elections.state.wi.us/  See “Voter Public Access.”
• Wisconsin Vote  http://www.wisconsinvote.org/  The Wisconsin Vote Web site is a project of Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Search for articles in Libraries' databases

Start here for newspaper, magazine, and journal articles--current or historical issues, brief analysis of broad topics, or in-depth analysis of narrow topics.  These sites are licensed for the exclusive use of the Marquette community.

• Popular Magazines and Newspapers
  • ProQuest Research Library  For coverage of politics and government in general interest magazines and selected scholarly journals; some full text articles.
  • Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe  Full text of newspapers, magazines, wire services, business publications, legal resources.
  • Wisconsin Newspapers  15 Wisconsin newspapers full-text.
• Scholarly Journals
  • JSTOR  Archive of scholarly journal articles.
  • PAIS International  Index to articles, government publications.
  • Social Sciences in ProQuest  Scholarly journals and popular magazines; some full text articles.