Online Resources

NEWSROOMS THAT HAVE ACCESS TO commercial database services or the Internet can find many of the sources they need online.

There are many resources that come online in election years and then fade. But there are scores of others that are continuing resources. Some of these are produced by news organizations. Others are entries from nonpartisan voter education groups, government agencies like the Federal Election Commission, academic institutions, and partisan consulting firms and advocacy groups. Political parties and, increasingly, candidates also have websites.

Most of the Internet sources are free. The commercial online resources can be costly, although they are efficient and what they offer is often well worth the money. We’ve denoted those with the symbol ($).

Here’s a list of some continuing websites you may find helpful. Most of these have links to other pages that can also be useful.

Checking Basic Election Information

• California Voter Foundation has information on the state’s election laws, a "Voter Resources" page that links to other sites, information on the 1998 California election, and Initiative Watch 2000.

• CapWeb’s guide to Congress has scheduling and contact information.

• The Democratic National Committee has links to state parties and information on party conventions.

• Elections USA, a site that tracks campaigns and elections state by state, also offers a long list of links.

• League of Women Voters. The national league’s Website has information on issues they follow, plus a site called "Power the Vote" that includes useful gender gap data. There are also links to state and local LWV websites. Those will often have detailed issue and candidate background information during election periods.

• Legi-Slate, formerly a subsidiary of The Washington Post, was acquired by Congressional Quarterly in September 1999. It has in-depth coverage of issues and a "Current Politics" section with updates on races to watch. Its basic business is bill and government regulation tracking.($)

• The National Conference of State Legislatures offers links to all state legislative sites.

• Project Vote Smart offers a wide range of useful information. On the home page are links to state government information, including election laws and a "Golden Rolodex" of election coverage resources.

• Republican National Committee has links to state parties and information on party conventions.

• Roll Call, the newspaper devoted to covering Congress, has a guide to Congress, with report cards on members and information on races, plus policy briefings.

• Smart Voter is a partnership in California that developed a custom ballot system. Voters can plug in zip codes and get information about races in which they can vote.

Getting Background on an Issue

• All Politics, from Time magazine and CNN, offers commentaries and analysis.

• The Center for the American Woman and Politics lists officeholders, turnout information, gender gap numbers, and other research.

• Congress.org is put up by Capitol Advantage and Issue Dynamics. It offers an information search on bills, key votes and scorecards prepared by various interest organizations on members of Congress. There’s also information on state governors.

• Some congressional offices can be reached online and asked for voting attendance and votes cast by individual members. Contact information is compiled at: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

• Congressional Quarterly offers a wide variety of reference information on government and politics. ($)

There are free sites links to pages on the American Voter, CQ Vote Watch, and Campaign and Election News.

• On Dialog, a Dialindex search can be conducted on a topic or issue. The listing of stories containing that term can provide ideas on various angles to the issue. Then searching for information on the issue in a particular database will turn up specific background information. ($)

• The Electronic Policy Network, sponsored by American Prospect, a liberal publication, has analysis and background on issues from that perspective.

• The Environmental Working Group has reports on environmental issues and campaign finance.

• The Government Printing Office offers texts of the congressional record, bills, and government documents.

• Interest groups on the Internet can be searched by topic. A list of search engines that allow searching by key word can be found at Starting Point.

• The Jefferson Project offers a nonpartisan guide to online political resources, with links and a campaign archive.

• The Library of Congress provides the text of legislation and other officials records of Congress.

• National Journal’s Cloakroom is a self-described "site for political insiders’’ watching Congress and the administration. It has state-by-state demographics and election schedules. Requires membership.

• Nexis can be used to search for articles that have appeared on an issue or for candidate profiles. The term "analysis" or "background" is often added to stories and can help pinpoint substantive articles. Nexis often sets up special topic libraries when an issue gets big. ($)

• Politics1, an Internet guide to politics, has a useful list of links to issue advocacy groups, sorted by issue and ideology.

• Profnet, a free service linking university public information officers, can be used to locate professors and researchers who can talk about a specific issue. Its website offers a searchable database and accepts e-mail queries.

• Policy.com offers content from advocacy groups, an issues library, and an archive of weekly issues backgrounders.

• Public Agenda, a nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and citizen education organization, has a subscription service for journalists offering background on issues. ($)

• Town Hall, a site from the Heritage Foundation, among others, offers a way to "explore the new conservative world."

• University of Michigan Documents Center is a central reference and referral point for local, state, and federal government information.

• Campaigns & Elections magazine and Congressional Quarterly publish Washington Alert, a database service from has the text of CQ Research Reports providing analyses, pros, and cons of current issues. ($)

Or try a free version of the fee-based service offered by the Duke University Libraries.

• Washingtonpost.com’s Politics offers continuously updated political coverage from The Washington Post. It also has directories and profiles of government officials and issues information.

Getting Texts of Speeches, Press Releases

• Burrelle’s, a broadcast database service, has transcripts of public affairs and news programming for CBS and NBC and some CNN and other programming. ($)

• The Congressional Record and texts of legislation can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/

• Democracy Place USA, a service of the Soundprint Media Center, has issues information and an information exchange for journalists.

• Dialog, Nexis, or Washington Alert have the Federal News Service transcripts of live events, hearings, and TV shows. Daybooks of government events also are available. Nexis has a presidential documents database that contains the full text of presidential addresses, conferences, press releases, executive orders, and proclamations. (See earlier references for URLs.) ($)

• Presidential documents, speeches, and other information are available at the White House site.

• PR Newswire has news releases from U.S. government agencies, members of Congress, and congressional committees. It requires a user ID and password.

Tracking Voting Records

• Some congressional offices have online information on voting attendance and votes cast. Search through the Library of Congress site.

• C-Span lets you search congressional voting by member or month, check on the status of bills, and get committee and other information on individual members.

• The Government Printing Office has text of the congressional record, bills, and government documents.

• Legi-Slate, a bill-tracking service, provides information on bills, including daily status and legislative history, biographies on members of Congress, floor votes, and the text of several news publications covering Congress. ($)

• The National Environmental Scoreboard lists voting records on environmental issues.

• Nexis’ CMPGN library (Campaign News and Information) contains committee and floor voting records for House and Senate incumbents. There is also a database of public interest group ratings for legislators. ($)

• Project Vote Smart has information about where elected officials stand, including federal and some state campaigns.

• Washington Alert, a database service from Congressional Quarterly, has a voting history database. It provides not only the roll call vote but describes the vote and analyses what a vote for or against actually means. ($)

Or try a free version of the fee-based service offered by the Duke University Libraries.

Getting Biographical Information

• CapWeb, by an Internet service provider, has basic biographical information on members of Congress, plus ratings by major interest groups.

• Congress.org, a site created by a publisher and a lobbying group, has a searchable database of members with basic biographical information.

• Project Vote Smart has background information about where elected officials stand.

• Nexis, Legi-Slate, and Washington Alert all have special biographical information databases. Nexis also makes available wire service biographies of candidates. Dialog, Nexis, or Datatimes can be searched for profiles of the candidates from newspapers and magazines. The keyword "biography," "bio," or "profile" will narrow the search. ($)

Tracking Campaign Finance Information

• The Center for Public Integrity has a site that includes updates of its book The Buying of the President and fund-raising information from the Center for Responsive Politics.

• The Center for Responsive Politics has a Reporter’s Guide to tracking money in politics, plus state-by-state contributions, and contribution profiles of congressional incumbents. Data is searchable.

• Campaigns and Elections magazine online offers analyses, predictions, and poll results. A subscriber-only area has a bi-weekly state elections report.

• Campaign Finance Information Center, from IRE and NICAR, has story ideas, downloadable databases from state races, tip sheets, and links.

• Campaign Finance, from American University’s School of Communication, offers FEC data that can be downloaded and searched.

• The Coin-Operated Congress, a site from Mother Jones magazine, has features and a searchable database on campaign finance.

• Environmental Working Group has reports on environmental issues and campaign finance.

• The Federal Election Commission has campaign finance data online, including electronic filings and tools for searching. The data cover races for president, House and Senate, plus parties and PACS. The site also has basic information about how the federal campaign law works.

• FEC Information, produced by former FEC staffers, allows you to search databases by contributors, names, zip codes, employers, and more.

• Radio and Television News Directors Foundation has a guide to tracking campaign finance information called "Follow the Money."

Finding Sources and Keeping an Ear to the Ground

• All Politics, from Time magazine and CNN, offers news and information, plus a discussion area.

• Cloakroom, from the National Journal, has "the buzz" and a poll track section, plus access to Hotline and other specialty publications. This formerly free site (it used to be PoliticsNow) is now a subscriber-only service.

• The Gallup Organization, a leading polling firm, has information about its latest surveys and an archive of polls online.

• Newsplace, from Northern Illinois University, has a search engine for politicas and policy with links to analysis and sites for journalists.

• The Pew Center for People and the Press, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, has results of its opinion surveys on national issues available online.

• Policy.com has links to organizations sorted by issue, as well as a policy chat section and issues discussions.

• Politics1, an Internet guide to politics, has a useful list of links to political news sources.

• Politics Online is a commercial site that tracks Internet tools for politics, with a newsletter, discussion groups, and links. Designed for activists, it may be useful to keep track of what they’re up to.

• Political Information Network, by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, offers links to campaign and election information and lists faculty experts.

• Political Site of the Day, from an Internet service provider, is a site worth checking frequently.

• Washingtonpost.com’s Politics offers continuously updated political coverage from The Washington Post and its Legi-Slate News Service.

Other Resources

• Listservs often focus on particular issues. VOICE-L is a discussion list on general election campaign issues. Others may be found through the comprehensive search engine Liszt.

• Newsgroup discussions on the Internet can provide useful insight into opinions about issues that may not turn up elsewhere. To narrow the list, try Dejanews, which allows for searching by key word.

• Dialog’s Public Opinion Online database, produced by the Roper Center, can be used to track trends in public opinion. Dialog also has the Encyclopedia of Associations, a great source for advocacy and public interest groups. ($).