The Election: Making an Educated Decision

This week, I searched the Internet and the blogosphere for resources that would be helpful when analyzing the upcoming election. There are a great number of sources on the Internet and in the blogosphere on the subject of the election, but only a few are truly helpful and reputable. I have consulted ten resources and I have placed them in my linkroll, for easy access. The first is CQ Moneyline. CQ Moneyline helps to shed light on the finances of different campaigns, the allocation of money who has it, who does not, and the role of lobbyists in those respective campaigns. The second resource is a blog entitled Election Law. Election Law delves into the election, as well as voting rights, the place of the courts and the law in relation to politics. The Federal Election Commision, which is my third resource, provides the background for the presidential, house and senate elections and different reports and data on the respective elections. While the FEC provides the background, CNN.com's Path to the Presidency:Election Center 2008 highlights different stories and issues that deal with the election and their positive and negative effect on each respective candidate. Politifact.com examines different rumors circulating about the election and analyzes their authenticity. Pollingreport.com shows different polls that have been taken throughout the United States which help to show the sentiment of the citizens of the U.S. on certain issues, specifically the politics of the country. As PollingReport gauges the country, Rock the Vote, is devoted to motivating the younger population of the United States to vote and have a political presence. U.S. Electoral College, the eight resource, educates the reader about the Electoral College, what it is, and how it affects the election, and even has an electoral college calculator so that one can see the possible election results. The ninth resource, WatchBlog, analyzes political news from three different vantage points: Republicans and Conservatives, Democrats and Liberals and Independents. The final resource I uncovered this week was OntheIssues.org. On the Issues, allows the reader to examine political leaders and the stance they have taken on issues in the past and presently. On the Issues also provides VoteMatch Quiz which allows the reader to examine which candidate they might align most closely with. The blogs that I have mentioned meet the IMSA criteria for paramount blogs and at least satisfy the intermediate qualifications of the rubric. The websites I have mentioned follow the Webby criteria almost perfectly. Collectively, these blogs and websites show that there are resources available to the citizens of the United States that would be helpful in making decision about the election and being informed citizens.