POLITICAL PARTIES & ELECTIONS, FALL 2012

SOME USEFUL LINKS FOR RESEARCH

Researching elections today is easier than ever, thanks to the efforts of several academic and media outlets that focus on the current political scene. What follows is by no means an exhaustive list, but it should help get anyone started in finding information about any specific election contest. NOTE: Some sites will require signing up for a (usually free) subscription in order to access the content.

THE CRYSTAL BALL – this site is operated by the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, featuring analysis by Dr. Larry Sabato, one of the nation’s best and most astute political scientists. Races for House, Senate, governor, and overall commentary are all available here. Clicking on the links for type of race, you get analysis and the websites of the principal candidates.

POLITICO.com has become a must-read site for political junkies; run by journalists with extensive experience in political reporting, not interested in a particular point of view

THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT – Charlie Cook is a well known analyst offering nonpartisan commentary about electoral politics. The free version of the site gives a wealth of information about key races, and this site is frequented by political reporters wanting insight as well.

The NEW YORK TIMES and the WASHINGTON POST offer election guides that track races across the United States. Requires free online subscription for full access. Many other news organizations also run such guides (CNN, for example).

The POLITICAL WIRE is another fun site tracking elections, and RealClearPolitics.com organizes polling data along with offering a digest of stories from multiple news sources.

FACTCHECK.ORG – this site (one of Chris’s personal favorites) is focused on assessing the quality of political information, analyzing campaign ads and debates for misstatements and ‘stretches’ of the truth. Operated by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, with outstanding reporters and scholars actively involved. This site may have information about your specific election.

NEWSPAPERS COVERING YOUR STATE AND RACE – Both this site and this site offer links to daily newspapers, which should be considered an essential resource if you can obtain an online subscription. To make sure you are accessing the papers with the widest circulation (usually the best choice), check out this page listing the top 100 papers.

FINDING YOUR RACE – for the geographically challenged, maps of each congressional district are available from several sources, including the National Atlas. Typing “congressional district map” into Google will get you many links that provide the maps.

ALMANAC OF AMERICAN POLITICS 2012, available in the reference section of the Gustavus library, offers background on EVERY single state, House district, and governorship. The entries for each district/state include previous voting history, interest group ratings of incumbent members, and some background data on each district and state. Maps also included. Simply an excellent place to get started on researching your election.

VOTIMUS.COM is another site that tracks all federal elections, allows user to customize focus on elections of interest.

MORE SITES/LINKS TO FOLLOW……