US Presidential Election 2008: Basic Information

US Presidential Election, 2008

1. Electoral System and Polls

2. Election Blog

3. Helpful Links

4. Current Issues

4.1. Updated Electoral Map 4.2 US Foreign Policy 4.3 Health Care in the US 4.4 Issues Concerning Race in the US 4.5 US Defense Policy 4.6 Economic Policy 4.7 Science Policy 4.8 Environmental Policy

5. Media Coverage]]

5.1 US Newspapers 5.2 Newspaper Editorials 5.3 News Radio Stations 5.4 TV Stations 5.5 Podcasts 5.6 Ads 5.7 Fact Checking

6. Candidates for President and Vice-President

6.1 The Democratic Party 6.1.2 Democratic Party Candidates 6.1.2.3 Senator Barack Obama 6.1.2.4 Senator Joe Biden 6.2 The GOP 6.2.1 Republican Party Candidates 6.2.1.1 Senator John McCain 6.2.1.2 Alaska Governor Sarah Palin 6.3 Speeches 6.4 Debates and Parodies

7 Miscellaneous

7.1 Additional Political Videos 7.2 Political Satire 7.3 Movies about Elections

Here is a 3-minute video explaining how the presidential election process:

Video: Electing a US President in Plain English http://commoncraft.com/store-item/election

Description of US Presidential Election Process

Presidential Elections in the United States: A Primer. Kevin J. Coleman et al.

Congressional Research Service. April 17, 2000. 53 pp. CRS Report RL30527.

An excellent primer that describes the four stages of the presidential election process: the pre-nomination primaries and caucuses for selecting delegates to the national conventions; the national nominating conventions; the general election; and voting by members of the electoral college to choose the president and vice president.

http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30527.pdf (pg 33-50 are particularly helpful at this point in the election cycle)

This website from the non-partisan organization "Voters Abroad" provides an excellent overview of the election process and includes many helpful maps and graphs:

http://www.electoral-vote.com/index.html

This entry on the MSN Encarta online encyclopedia describes the US election process and would be good background for the course:

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761569491/Election.html

Here's a list of election terminology

http://www.pbs.org/elections/glossary/index.html

The Electoral College

This website gives a good overview of the electoral college system:

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/electcollege.htm

careful: satire!!!

Alternative definitions of election terms from the satirical magazine "The Onion"

http://politicsoffthegrid.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/glossary-of-election-terms-onion-style/

POLLS

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20081015_POLL.pdf