12 Top Election Stories and Web Sites
It's been quite a year for politics and campaign coverage. As we head to the finish line, I'd like to nominate the journalists, publications and Web sites that I think have done the best job of covering the elections.
1. For depth of political coverage, it's hard to beat The Politico and politico.com. Since editors John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei launched the upstart Web site last year, it has quickly ramped up the quality and thoroughness of its coverage. www.politico.com/
2. NPR and the Center for Investigative Reporting teamed up to reveal who is behind the nasty political ads during this year's election season. "The Secret Money Project" lets viewers click on a map of the U.S. to see the advertisements running in different states and then offers a thumbnail analysis of the business, union and other private groups who are paying for the commercials. The Secret Money project features ads for McCain and Obama as well as congressional candidates. www.centerforinvestigativereporting.org/files/flash/secretmoneyproject.html
3. The New York Times special section "On the Issues" is the best guide I've seen on where Obama and McCain, along with Palin and Biden, stand on the issues. It includes 17 key topics, with detail assessments and statements from the candidates. http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/issues/abortion.html
4. On Super Tuesday, I found that CNN's "Election Center" had the fastest and most thorough updates. It's where I'm going to go first next Tuesday night. www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/
5. PolitiFact.com, sponsored by the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, checks the accuracy of statements made in the presidential candidates' speeches and advertisements as well as videos and e-mails circulating the Web. A "Truth-O-Meter" ranks each statement from "True" to "Pants on Fire." Edited by Times D.C. Bureau Chief Bill Adair, PolitiFact reflects the work of four other editors, 18 researchers and 27 writers. www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
6. No one has covered the meteoric rise of Barack Obama better than his hometown newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times. Despite suffering severe newsroom cutbacks, the Sun-Times political team led by Abdon Pallasch and Lynn Sweet has provided excellent insights and investigations into the candidate and his campaign. www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/index.html
7. Remember when Hillary Clinton looked like she would have an easy march to the Democratic nomination? In the September issue of The Atlantic, Joshua Green dissects what went wrong in the brilliant "The Front-Runner's Fall." www.theatlantic.com/doc/200809/hillary-clinton-campaign
8. Graduate journalism students from around the country produced "What's at Stake: Election 2008," an excellent guide to some of the big issues in this year's presidential sweepstakes. Students at Columbia University developed "Immigration: New Voters, Old Fears," Medill School of Journalism students created "Politics and the Environment" and University of California at Berkeley journalism students looked at what's happened to the "American Dream." Each of these sites features a terrific mix of videos, photos, audio and interactive graphics to enhance the stories. The home page for the collaboration (http://news21project.org/projects) isn't especially sexy, but the sites for the individual projects are impressive:
http://news21project.org/project/immigration_new_voters_old_fears http://news21project.org/project/politics_and_the_environment http://news21project.org/project/american_dream
9. Real Clear Politics has become a go-to site for political junkies. Real Clear Politics aggregates election stories from journalists around the country, allowing visitors to get a comprehensive view of campaign coverage of the presidential race as well as congressional and gubernatorial battles. http://realclearpolitics.com/
10.My favorite political blogs this election season have been "The Fix" by The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza and Editor & Publisher's "Pub," which tracks the campaign from the perspective of media coverage. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/ and www.eandppub.com/
11. WebMD's "Health Matters in the 2008 Election" allows viewers to click on photos of the presidential candidates and learn where they stand on creating national health insurance, containing medical costs, allowing the importation of prescription drugs and other health-related issues. It also contains a handy chart for comparing the candidates' positions and a crib sheet by Todd Zwillich that summarizes some of the important issues. This site, with information compiled by Michele Foust and reviewed by Dr. Louise Chang, manages to be easy to use and comprehensive at the same time. http://www.webmd.com/election2008/default.htm
12. While most political reporters follow the fortunes of McCain and Obama during the last days of the presidential campaign, Michael Scherer of Time looks ahead to what might actually happen in voting booths around the country. His "7 Things That Could Go Wrong on Election Day" clearly lays out the snafus that could determine who becomes our next president. The potential problems include messed up voter registration rolls, confusing ballots and miscalibrated voting machines. www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1853246_1853243,00.html
Are there other election stories or news sites that you recommend? If so, let us know with a comment or an e-mail to newsgems@sbcglobal.net.