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Research Guides

Introduction

This page brings together a selected number of web sites and publications that focus on the political campaigns and elections. Primarily national, several state and local resources are also included. See also Multi-Issue Politicized Sites.

Web Sites

  • ANES National Election Studies
    ANES conducts national surveys of the American electorate in order to produce data on voting, public opinion and political participation in national elections. Site provides an NES dataset archive, study & dataset resources, guides to public opinion and electoral behaviour and much more.

  • Common Cause
    Common Cause is a nonprofit, nonpartisan citizen's lobbying organization working for open, honest and accountable government. It is currently very active in promoting campaign finance reform through Project Independence.

     

  • Federal Election Commission (FEC)
    The FEC is a U.S. government agency that administers and enforces the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) - the statute that governs the financing of federal elections. Provides congressional and presidential campaign finance reports and data, campaign finance law resources, elections and voting information, news releases and much more.

     

  • opensecrets.org
    The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan watchdog organization that tracks PAC contributions, individual campaign contributions, and as many other ways as it can identify by which money flows into the political process. It all adds up to a site that is "a national library on money and politics."

     

  • Political Advocacy Groups
    This site provides a list of national "cause lobbyist" organizations. As defined by Alan Rosenthal in his 1993 book The Third House: Lobbyists and Lobbying in the States a "cause lobbyist" advocates for or against a particular cause like environmentalism or feminism instead of on behalf of a corporation. The organizations or groups are arranged by subject categories or in an alphabetical list. Each organization entry has a description and contact information.

     

  • Politics1
    A non-partisan public service that provides an online directory of national and state candidates, political parties, issues & debates, primary calendar & results, news links, a bookstore, political collectibles auctions and more. A link to Awards & Recognitions shows the numerous praises that this site earns.

     

  • Project Vote Smart
    This is the official site of Project Vote Smart, a program of The Center for National Independence in Politics. The site supports The Center's national non-partisan focus of "providing citizens/voters with information about the political system, issues, candidates and elected officials."

     

  • Voters for None of the Above
    "A nonpartisan organization dedicated to enacting Voter Consent laws, giving voters the ballot option to reject all candidates for an office and to call for a new election with new candidates to fill that office."

     

Materials in the UW Libraries

  • Campaigns and Elections
    This bi-monthly journal is an insider's guide to campaign strategies, candidate packaging and marketing of the election process. Articles are primarily by political professionals and some academicians; all are opinionated.