Resources for the 2008 Elections

February 2008--The Libraries present this handy list of current reading and election-oriented Web sites.  Start here to do background research or to be an informed voter.

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.

Current reading on politics

• Attack Politics: Negativity in Presidential Campaigns Since 1960. Emmett H. Buell Jr. and Lee Sigelman. (University Press of Kansas, 2008)
• The Effective Presidency: Lessons on leadership from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush. Erwin C. Hargrove (Paradigm Publishers, 2008)
• Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics. Glenn Greenwald. (Random House, 2008)
• Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership. Madeleine Albright with Bill Woodward. (Harper, c2008)
• The New Feminized Majority: How Democrats Can Change America With Women's Values. Katherine Adam and Charles Derber. (Paradigm Publishers, c2008)
• Pearls, Politics and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead. Madeleine M. Kunin. (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008)
• Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost--And How It Can Find Its Way Back. Mickey Edwards. (Oxford University Press, 2008)
• Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe (And What We Need To Know To End the Madness. Arianna Huffington. (Knopf, 2008)
• Why We're Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America. Eric Alterman. (Viking, 2008)
• Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns. Erika Falk. (University of Illinois Press, 2008)

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.
• Common Cause  http://www.commoncause,org  A nonpartisan group dedicated to representing the voices of common citizens and to holding elected officials accountable for their work.
• 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.
• Wisconsin Democracy Campaign http://www.wisdc.org  An organization of Wisconsin citizens working against corruption in politics and for fair government and elections.

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  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.
• Green Parties  http://www.gp.org/elections/candidates/ The Green Parties of North America
• 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

• John McCain (R)  http://www.johnmccain.com/
• Barack Obama (D)  http://www.barackobama.com/
• Ralph Nader (I) http://www.votenader.org/index.html
• Cynthia McKinney (Green) http://www.runcynthiarun.org/

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.