This page features a continuously growing list of interesting, election-based sites that offer different perspectives on the process.
In order to gain more insight into what you should come to expect at these sites, we’ve asked NFTYites like you to share their experiences.
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From the Website:
“Head-to-Head '08 remains committed to focusing on the issues in the race for the Democratic nomination to be President. We will offer video comparisons of the candidates on the issues between now and the elections. Sign up to be alerted when new videos are added to this site.”
From a NFTYite: BJ Michaels
“Head-to-Head '08 is a great resource to use to differentiate candidate's positions on issues of relevance in the upcoming election. Besides being entertaining, the videos allow the viewer to put a face and voice behind a name and the videos are straight to the point and answer the question being asked. The viewer can choose between a variety of topics, many focusing around the War in Iraq. In addition, footage of a forum at Howard University permits the viewer to choose between eight different topics that seven of the forerunners answer. On the negative side, the site is paid for by "Biden for President," so Joe Biden is featured for every issue. However, the site remains remarkably neutral and besides giving Biden more exposure, does not in any way advocate on his behalf.”
www.headtohead08.com
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From the Website:
“The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, launched in 2001, seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs.
The Forum pursues its mission by delivering timely, impartial information to national opinion leaders, including government officials and journalists. As a nonpartisan, non-advocacy organization, the Forum does not take positions on policy debates.
The Forum functions as both an information clearinghouse and a town hall. As a clearinghouse it tracks and aggregates news and conducts independent research, including surveys, legal backgrounders, reports, books and Q&A interviews. As a town hall, it provides a neutral venue for discussion. In these roles, the Forum serves as an important information resource for political leaders, journalists, scholars and public interest groups.”
From a NFTYite: Carly Coons
“I thought that this website was very useful. I really liked the profiles of the candidates because they were informative and unbiased. In addition, I liked how you could compare the candidates views on each of the issues. The overviews of each of the issues were informative and gave good insight into the issues. The links on the bottom of the page of each issue where very valuable and represented all views on the issue. I really like this website and I feel that it will really help me to make decisions in the upcoming 2008 election.”
www.pewforum.org/religion08/
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From the Website:
“The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics, and its effect on elections and public policy. The Center conducts computer-based research on campaign finance issues for the news media, academics, activists, and the public at large. The Center’s work is aimed at creating a more educated voter, an involved citizenry, and a more responsive government.”
From a NFTYite: Robby Liebman
“Opensecrects.org allows the public to view an individual or party breakdown of funds for presidential candidates, senate candidates, and house candidates. The site allows viewers to see how much money candidates or parties have raised, spent, have on hand, etc. The site also provides information on who has raised the most, least, and who has spent the most thus far. In addition to that opensecrets.org allows the viewer to see who is donating to candidates funds. All of this information is helpful to determine patterns in fundraising between parties as well as patterns in spending. It also provides an inference as to which party has more popularity and support.”
www.opensecrets.org
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From the Website:
“Something approximating election news with something approximating honesty.”
From a NFTYite: Mikey Evers
“Going to indecision2008.com was really fun. The website is run by Comedy Central, and is set-up in their style. The site is full of videos of meetings with candidates, mostly with comedy central talk show hosts, and offers the funny perspective on the election. The videos also offer some really positive insight into the election as well, considering that while the hosts are trying to get laughs, they are also trying to make the candidates answer serious questions. From blogs to videos Comedy Central conveys the 2008 election in a humorous way that puts a smile on anyone’s face.
I found that there were a lot of blogs and comments to videos. I think that is a bad set-up for the site because if someone were to get their political views from there the information is not necessarily reliable and would be from the perspective of that author.
While at the surface it may seem that there is nothing really substantial or worthwhile on the site that is a misconception. The site has a section called roll call which are news updates describing developments in the campaign, usually ones that can be made fun of. From this I learned that Stephen Colbert is running for President (yeah!), but not much else. The information posted deals with things that are minor and usually are not big issues like abortion, gun control, or healthcare. Roll call is posted by the main blogger on the site TheInDecider. The links on roll call lead to sites such as The New York Times and Washington Post.
This is a pretty good site to use because it is not only funny, but it does give information on the election that is worthwhile, depending where on the site you look. Of course, if one were to take what is posted on the site at face value that would be bad, because the site is made for humor, it’s not top of the line news. Overall this site is good to use if you are interested in the 2008 campaign, but be wary to not buy into everything that is posted on there. It is easy access and, if anything else, will offer a good laugh.”
www.indecision2008.com
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