Politics
Scoop 08: YouTube trailer

Scoop 08, a political newspaper, has a trailer on YouTube. Check it out using the link “View Scoop08 Trailer” located just under the navigation bar.
LATimes.com - Text your election picks
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-votersguide-picker,0,7763401.htmlstory

The Los Angeles Times is providing a way to remember your ballot selections when you get to the election booth. Simply read up on the issues, then use this site to make your selections. You can then text or email yourself the guide to take with you to the polls.
Politico: YOU Report
http://dyn.politico.com/youreport.cfm

Politico, a publication of Capitol News Company LLC, is inviting all its registered users to submit their own political stories, keeping them under 1,000 words. Stories that are accepted for the Politico newspaper and Politico.com will appear on a designated YOU Report page.
ONE Vote '08 - Candidate Comparison
http://onevote08.org/candidatesvideos/

ONE, an advocacy group that promotes awareness and legislation to lessen the effects of worldwide poverty and AIDS, was able to get major candidates to speak on video about their plans to combat poverty and disease if elected. Users can view the videos or directly compare up to three candidates with side-by-side descriptions of their plans.
News21 - One Vote Under God
http://newsinitiative.org/medill/candidates/

Carnegie-Knight Foundation Fellows at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism created this interactive feature to show the impact of religion on the candidates in the 2008 presidential primary elections. Each candidate’s religious background is examined, as well as their stances on “values” issues such as gay marriage, abortion and stem cell research.
techPresident - 10 Questions

From the producers of 2007 Knight-Batten Grand Prize winner techPresident.com comes 10 Questions, adding an interactive element to the 2008 presidential debates. Regular citizens submitted questions via YouTube and users voted on the questions and the top 10 were asked to each party at separate debates.
Personal Democracy Forum- techPresident
A non-partisan group blog that examines how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the web. Site includes original reporting on topics including video-blogging, social networking, and tracks candidates’ online videos and number of “friends” on such sites at Facebook and MySpace.
Personal Democracy Forum- techPresident
A non-partisan group blog that examines how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the web. Site includes original reporting on topics including video-blogging, social networking, and tracks candidates’ online videos and number of “friends” on such sites at Facebook and MySpace.
LJWorld.com - 2007 Lawrence City Commision General Election Results
http://www2.ljworld.com/elections/2007/apr/03/races/lawrence_city_commission/
Lawrence Journal World and 6News took advantage of all the web has to offer in covering the 2007 race for City Commisioner. Each candidate had a page on their site using multiple media to cover all aspects of the campaign process. They used interactive maps to display results in a unique way.
WashingtonPost.com - 2008 Campaign Tracker
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/tracker
A database driven tracker provides the user up to date information about each of the presidential candidates’ travels, fundraising, comparisons with other candidates and other campaign-related information. It is intended for use not just by readers, but also by other journalists and organizations. The tracker has been covering events since January 2007.
MSNBC - Rate the Candidates - The Debates
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18421356/

MSNBC’s Rate The Candidates allows you to watch video clips of each presidential candidate from debates. After watching the video, you rate each candidate and submit your ratings to see how the candidates stack up against each other in the eye of the public. Cast your vote for both parties.
Denver Post Politics Game: Pick the Ticket
http://www.castingballots.com/
The Denver Post and Politics West have created a game that allows you to choose who appears on the presidential election ballot. Pick the presidential and vice-presidential candidates for both parties, cast your vote and see how your ballot compares to others. Then take a look at the top tickets and overall top candidates.
The Morning Call - News Widgets
http://www.mcall.com/all-pres-widgetlist,0,3165119.htmlstory

The Morning Call believes itself to be the first newspaper in the country to develop widgets that can be embedded in other web sites to allow users to search the newspaper’s databases without needing to visit to the paper’s web site. The widgets allow users to search databases of regional kennels and inspection reports, of outdoor calendar activities and presidential poll results.
WashingtonPost.com - Congressional Votes Database
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/

Want to know how your senator or congressman is voting on issues? Interested in seeing who skips the most votes? WashingtonPost.com created this database that allows users to browse every vote in the United States Congress since 1991. Users can get a specific congress member’s vote history or see what a previous year’s congress voted on. The database is updated daily and offers RSS feeds on recent votes or by congress member.
MSNBC.com - The Big Picture: Campaign Adviser
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6268738/

MSNBC.com continues “The Big Picture” series with a feature that allows users to take on the role of a presidential campaign adviser. Pick a candidate, choose your issues, decide your battleground states and produce a 30-second campaign ad. Once finished, users message one other about strategy choices or use their ads to get people to vote for their candidate in MSNBC.com’s poll.
The Pew Research Center for The People & The Press - Beyond Red vs. Blue
http://typology.people-press.org/

There is more than just right and left on the political spectrum. Find out where you fit among social conservatives, liberals, conservative democrats, upbeats, disaffecteds and more. The Pew Research Center put together this set of 25 questions about where you stand on key political issues to tell you which of nine political typology groups you fit into. See the descriptions and demographics for your typology and others, on what issues they differ most from the general population and how each voted in the 2004 election.
WashingtonPost.com - Spheres of Influence
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/pioneers/pioneers_spheres.html

Who helped the President get elected, and how have they benefited from that support? The Post used Flash to tie together a database of George W. Bush’s biggest 2000 campaign donors with a graphical map of how those donors connect to Bush and one another. Clicking on any person or group on the map brings up their background information, including the amount they donated and what political appointments they received after Bush took office.
PBS.org - ByThePeople 2004

PBS’ coverage of the 2004 election included essays and commentary about the election, a guide to interpreting debates, polls and political ads, and an interactive ballot. Visitors could type in their ZIP code and see a complete list of candidates on their local ballot, with links to each candidate’s vital statistics, campaign finances, voting record and more.
Washingtonpost.com - Veep-O-Matic 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/elections/2004/veepomatic.htm

This exercise invites people to select from 16 different criteria the five qualities—such as military service or congressional experience—they would most like to see in a Democratic vice presidential candidate. Then it matches those choices with possible candidates to be John Kerry’s running mate. It provides lists of any of the candidates’ names and turns up biographical history, including past actions that could help or hinder their selection.
WBUR-FM and Online NewsHour - Vote by Issue Quiz
http://www.votebyissue.org/election2006/

WBUR-FM has teamed up with a national partner, The Online NewsHour, to adapt the station’s Vote by Issues Quiz that was developed for last year’s governor’s race, to the Democratic presidential primaries. “We had the tool and [The NewsHour] had the clout to get candidates to fill it out” with their position statements, said Robin Lubbock, WBUR’s Director of New Media. Together, the partners came up with the list of issues. Other stations, including New Hampshire Public Radio, are linking to the exercise.
Minnesota Public Radio - Select A Candidate
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/01/01_newsroom_selectapres/

By answering a series of questions about major issues, you can quickly learn which candidates are most closely aligned with your views. You’ll be able to learn more about each candidate, hear his/her positions on many issues, and find out how your results compare with those of others who take the survey. They also did this project for 2006.
Lawrence (KS) City Commission Candidate Selector
http://etc.lawrence.com/candidateselector/

LJWorld.com introduces this candidate selector as “a fun and educational tool that can help you decide which candidates you agree with the most” in the local city commision race. You read through the candidates’ positions on issues such as budget cuts and tax abatement and select which ones you agree with the most. The selector then ranks the candidates based on how many of their statements you agreed with, and provides links to more information on each one.
Spokane "Campaign 2004 Democratic Issues" Quiz
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/quiz/2004democrats.asp

The Spokesman Review set up this electronic quiz to help voters identify which candidates they agree with most. First, 10 key issues were identified by surveying readers. Next, statements regarding these issues were gleaned from seven Democratic candidates, their names removed, and answers posted on the web site. At the end of the quiz users find out how often they agree with each candidate.
Spokane "Campaign 2003 Issues" Quiz
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/quiz/2003spocouncil.asp

The Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review set up this selector to help visitors decide the Fall 2003 local mayor and council president races. Users choose the quotes they most agree with on a variety of issues, from law enforcement to business, and then find out which candidate they agree with on each issue.
A Chilling Effect? Alaska's Heartland Reacts to the Patriot Act
http://www.uaf.edu/journal/extreme/Patriot/flash.html

Journalism students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks put together this multimedia presentation about how Fairbanks residents feel about the USA Patriot Act and the continuing war on terror. Ten Fairbanks residents air their views through audio interviews, which are accompanied by short text articles, photos, and a flash introduction. The presentation also provides links to text of the act itself and related links to other sites on the subject.
Seattle Times "You Build It" Transportation Project Calculator
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/links/transportationgame/calculator/

You decide which projects should go in the budget and which should just go away with this interactive Seattle Times form. You get to choose the level of funding for a variety of transportation and transit “megaprojects,” such as building HOV lanes, renovating highways, and setting up new bus and rail stations. Then you have to allocate new taxes to pay for them all. You can also submit your (hopefully) balanced budget to the paper for use in a future story about transportation solutions.
2005 Minnesota Public Radio Budget Balancer
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2005/03/budget/

In a follow-up to its 2003 game, MPR once again invites users to step into the governor’s shoes and do battle with a $4.6 billion deficit. A slick, simplified Flash interface puts state budget options on a single screen and instantly reflects players’ spending or revenue choices on its scoreboard. Users can now also write in why they chose to cut or add spending to a particular category, generating possible reporting opportunities.
2003 Minnesota Public Radio Budget Balancer
http://news.mpr.org/features/2003/03/10_newsroom_budgetsim/
Batten Award

Minnesota Public Radio invites you to be governor for a day and try to solve the state’s $4.2 billion tax deficit in this Batten Award-winning project. The budget balancer offers a wide array of choices for balancing the budget, including across the board spending cuts, increasing property taxes, cutting specific programs, and delaying payments. The balancer even gives you comments on your choices, warning you about potential political and economic fallout that could result from your decisions. Choose carefully.
Seattle Times "Ax and Tax"
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/links/axtax/

“Last year, we asked you to try your hand at solving the state’s worst budget shortfall in decades. Guess what? The problem is bigger now.” So says the introduction to the Seattle Times’ latest web-based calculator. As the title implies, you choose what to cut from the budget and what to tax additionally to fix a $2.45 billion state budget shortfall. Be careful, though, as pop-up windows in response to your choices will warn you that people won’t lose their cherished programs without a fight, and that Washington voters are none to fond of taxes. The Times plans to compile the data submitted by visitors into an article about budget priorities.
Austin American-Satesman's "Budget Game" (Registration Required)
http://www.statesman.com/insight/content/norails/budget_game

The 78th Texas Legislature is looking at a $9.9 billion gap between the state’s expected revenue and what Texas must spend to maintain existing programs. Readers get a chance to play lawmaker and fill that gap through a mix of spending cuts and new taxes. The budget exercise builds in a political cost for each choice. Being in favor of a tax on food, for instance, would increase a public relations liability that could affect a politicians reelection. The trick is to fill the gap but keep your job.
"Plan Your Future Park"
http://www.gothamgazette.com/parksgame/

New York City, NY—The Gotham Gazette’s newest interactive game, “Plan Your Future Park” lets you plan a city park, making choices that communities always have to face. Do you want dogs? Skateboarding? How will you prevent crime? In addition to selecting from “multiple choice” solutions, a message board allows users to communicate specific opinions and concerns. See article.
Topeka (KS.) Capital-Journal City Council Survivor Game
http://www.cjonline.com/webindepth/survivor/multimedia/survivor_mov.shtml

Confronted with reporting on an unruly City Council, the Capital-Journal asked, “What if the Topeka City Council members were on the TV show ‘Survivor’...?” Those interested could go online and call Council members to account for their behavior by “voting” them off.
>Watch the promo for the game—in true Survivor style. (A QuickTime Movie)
The NYC Budget Game
http://www.gothamgazette.com/budgetgame/budgetgame.html

The Gotham Gazette is behind this interactive game that lets visitors balance New York’s $44.5 billion budget. Starting with the city’s current $3.8 million deficit, users add percentage points to specific taxes and remove money from specific expenditures until the deficit becomes a surplus. Pop-up windows let users know when new taxes are going to get you in trouble with voters, state leaders or even the federal government. After playing, users can compare their budget to the mayor’s with a handy pie chart, submit their proposed budget to The Gazette and talk about the game on the site’s message boards.
Fold-Ins, Past and Present

Al Jaffee’s fold-ins for Mad magazine, from the 1960s to the present, in interactive form.
New York Times - Living Tag Cloud
http://nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/04/us/politics/20081104_ELECTION_WORDTRAIN.HTML

Throughout Election Day, NYTimes.com readers submitted the words that best described their moods.
The Los Angeles Times - President Barack Obama's First 100 Days
http://projects.latimes.com/obama-100-days/#/index/
The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times reporters asked commuters what they expected from the new president a week before the 2008 election, and then again after Obama’s first 100 days and posted video of their responses.
Iran’s Presidential Election Fallout
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2009/jun/10/iran-elections-government
The Guardian
An interactive graphic with an in-depth look into the background for Iran’s 2009 presidential election.
Turning The Camera Around: Health Care Stakeholders
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/2009/hearing-pano/
NPR
Rather than taking pictures of the Senate members at a hearing, an NPR photographer took a panoramic picture of the crowd that attended. NPR then asked its listeners to identify lobbyists and other individuals that had a stake in the outcome of the hearing.
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