U. S. Presidential Campaign - 2008

The following are potential resources that will assist you in your exploration the U.S. presidential candidates, the vice-presidential running mates, and their positions on issues facing our nation.

 Online Databases

Student Resource Center Gold - Offers more than 1,100 full-text periodicals and newspapers, primary sources, creative works, and multimedia, including hours of video and audio clips and podcasts

 Internet Directories

The Candidates

 The Official Website of Barak Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

The Official Website of John McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com/
 

Electoral College

270 to Win: http://www.270towin.com/

How Stuff Works - How the Electoral College Works: http://www.howstuffworks.com/electoral-college.htm

NARA - U.S. Electoral College: www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/index.html
 

General

C-Span.org: http://www.c-span.org/

C-Span Classroom - Campaign Clips (video): http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/resourcelinks.aspx

Cable in the Classroom - eLections: http://www.ciconline.org/eLECTIONS

Democratic National Committee: http://www.democrats.org/.

Directory of U. S. Political Parties: http://www.politics1.com/parties.htm

Project Vote Smart: http://www.votesmart.org/

Republican National Committee: http://www.gop.com/
 

Issues

Campaigns and Elections - Issue Ads (commercials): http://www.campaignads.org/issueads.php

Issues - Barack Obama and Joe Biden: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Issues - John MaCain and Sarah Palin: http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/

ElectionLine.org: http://www.electionline.org/

Fact Check.org: http://www.factcheck.org/default.html

Office of the Clerk - U. S. House of Representatives - Role Call Votes: http://clerk.house.gov/

Pro Con.org - 2008  Election - Candidate Positions on 65 Issues - A Side by Side Comparison: http://2008election.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=1561

Pro Con.org - 2008 Election - Candidate Views by Issue: http://2008election.procon.org/viewtopic.asp
 

News

BBC News - US Elections 2008: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/americas/2008/vote_usa_2008/default.stm

CNN Election Center 2008: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/conventions/

National Public Radio - Election 2008: http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1102

New York Times - Politics: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/index.html

Newsweek Magazine - Politics: http://www.newsweek.com/id/38584

Time Magazine - Election 08: http://www.time.com/time/politics
 

Persuasion and Propaganda Techniques

Campaigns and Elections - Candidate Ads (commercials): http://www.campaignads.org/candidateads.php

Fear-Based Ads: http://www.frankwbaker.com/fear_based_ads.htm

Living Room Candidate (political ads):  http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/

How to Differentiate Political Facts and Lies: http://www.nationaljournal.com/conventions/co_20080904_3558.php

Media Persuasion Techniques in Presidential Ads (video presentation): http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DoJi5qa4CTb0

Media Savy - All the President's Ads: http://www.sacbee.com/127/story/650860.html

PBS POV - Dissect and Ad: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov1996/takingonthekennedys/dissect.html

PBS - The Savy Voter - Dissect and Ad: http://www.pbs.org/elections/savvydissect.html

Persuading US As Citizens - Politics and the Image Builders: http://www.ditext.com/packard/17.html

PrezVid - The YouTube Campaign 2008: http://prezvid.com/

The Selling of a President: www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_04-27-2008/3Selling_Of_President

Stanford's Political Communication Lab - Campaign 2008 (video ads): http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2008/index.html
 

Speeches & Debates

 CNN.com - Watch Republican National Convention Speeches: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/04/rnc.speeches/

NYTimes - Speeches at the Democratic National Convention: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/dems.html

Pro Con.org 2008 Election - Candidate Debates: http://2008election.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=1569

Pro Con.org 2008 Election - Candidate Speeches: http://2008election.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=1568
 

If you don't find what you're looking for in any of the sites above, try your 
own keyword search using the following tips...

Internet Search Tips

  1. Type the URL (web site address) of a search directory/engine in the address box: ex: www.yahoo.com, or www.google.com, etc.
     
  2. (Be sure to type the address exactly the way you see it, including any uppercase letters and punctuation).
     
  3. Type in keyword(s). (If your keyword has two parts such as: "political parties", be sure to put quotes around it so that the search engine only finds the Internet sites about political parties as opposed to all of the sites containing the word political  plus all of the sites containing the word parties.
     

  4. If you would like to search for something specific about political parties, try a combined keyword search by adding a comma followed by a space and your other search term. For instance; if I wanted to find out about political parties and their position on issues facing our nation, I would enter the following:
     

    "political parties", position, issues
     

  5. Hit Enter on your keyboard, or click on Search, then scan the description of the "hits" (entries) and click on the links that sound best.
     
  6. Be sure to evaluate each Internet site for the following:
    • Authority: Can you tell if the author is credible (believable)?
    • Objectivity: Is the information objective (honest and free of bias)?
    • Currency: Is the information recent and up-to-date?
    • Design: Is the site designed in a clear and user friendly way?
    • Navigation: Is the site easy to navigate through, and are all links current and usable?

     

  7. Remember: if you choose to use any information (text or graphics) found on an Internet source, 
    you must include it in your bibliography.

Remember:  YOU MUST CITE EVERY RESOURCE YOU USED to gather information on your 
Works Cited (Bibliography) page.  Use the Works Cited Guide to access MLA format.

Created by Liza Zandonella, Library Media Specialist.