Since I have recently been exploring new sites with the aid of Alexa's new Related Links, I've been encouraged to see that sites providing political information have been receiving spikes in traffic of late. An informed citizen is the sort I'd rather have voting, and in the twenty-first century, there's plenty of information a click away for those who take their democratic responsibilities seriously.
I've been visiting FactCheck.org every couple of days. The advantage of a non-partisan organization de-spinning candidates' statements is a gift from the Internet Age. This site's Reach has increased 114% when you compare the last three months of traffic to the previous three. Predictably, spiked occur when big political events happen, such as the recent Presidential Debate. Posted the day after the debate, FactCheck's blow-by-blow breakdown of the misleading or erroneous statements of both candidates has apparently been of use to many other than myself.
Another election-year resource on the web that I've found handy is Project Vote Smart's website. This site aggregates all sorts of hard data about lawmakers: public statements, voting records, biographical information, campaign finances, and ratings of various interest groups to name a few. Though their Voter's Self-Defense Manual has been and continues to be an invaluable paper resource, the website provides a bounty of information about all things politics. Their Reach has increased 318% in the second half of the past six months.
Of course, for those political junkies who need a daily fix of if-the-election-were-held-today, there are at least two sites (thanks, Related Links) dealing with the electoral college map. I knew about Electoral-vote.com, but have identified 270ToWin.com as a competing site. While each of them predicts an Obama victory at this stage of the game, based on state-by-state polling data, they have some different ideas about the likely/possible vote count.
Which sites do you find indispensable in the quest for election facts and fun? Do their Related Links lead to new favorites?
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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4 comments:
The real issue is not how well Obama or McCain might do state-by-state, but that we shouldn't have battleground states and spectator states in the first place. Every vote in every state should be politically relevant in a presidential election. And, every vote should be equal. We should have a national popular vote for President in which the White House goes to the candidate who gets the most popular votes in all 50 states.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC). The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral vote -- that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
Because of state-by-state enacted rules for winner-take-all awarding of their electoral votes, recent candidates with limited funds have concentrated their attention on a handful of closely divided "battleground" states. In 2004 two-thirds of the visits and money were focused in just six states; 88% on 9 states, and 99% of the money went to just 16 states. Two-thirds of the states and people have been merely spectators to the presidential election.
Another shortcoming of the current system is that a candidate can win the Presidency without winning the most popular votes nationwide.
The National Popular Vote bill has passed 21 state legislative chambers, including one house in Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, North Carolina, and Washington, and both houses in California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland. These four states possess 50 electoral votes-- 19% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.
See http://www.NationalPopularVote.com
Election is coming soon, it is good to know two party's thinking and its development.
Thanks for the election site.
check out Votimus (www.votimus.com). That has a lot of good political information.
The post-election let down means many political websites faced a large drop in traffic.
Thanks,
Suajn
my site
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