National

American Political Development
This project from the Miller Center for Public Affairs and the American Political History Initiative aims to become the nation’s premier site for the study of political history. It emphasizes education and provides access to a wide ranging list of sources including discussion forums, book reviews, primary sources, and course syllabi.

Annenberg Public Policy Center
The Center conducts and disseminates research on the intersection of media, communication, and public policy. It tracks political advertising and the media coverage of events and conducts research and publishes reports on a variety of policy issues.

Commission on Presidential Debates
Provides guidelines on how to host a local debate and provides histories on presidential and vice-presidential debates since 1858.

Election Results on Third Party Candidates 
This site from the Herbert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs provides information on how third party candidates fared in recent (2000-present) elections.

FactCheck.org 
This nonpartisan, nonprofit project sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center reviews the factual accuracy of statements made by politicians.

Great Debate and Beyond: The History of Televised Presidential Debates
Includes the full video of the September 26, 1960 Kennedy/Nixon debate as well as an accompanying documentary about the debate. Also includes clips from subsequent debates and interviews, essays, and statistics on the impact of television on politics.

Living Room Candidate
This site from the American Museum of the Moving Image enables you to play political commercials from presidential elections dating back to 1952. The commercials are grouped by election year, type of commercial, and issue. RealPlayer, Windows Media, or an external viewer are required for viewing the commercials.

National Priorities Project
Examines the impact of federal budgetary policies on states and communities. Enables users to create customized tables using federal statistics sources. Also provides information relating to state budgets.

Opensecrets.org
Facilitates the tracking of campaign contributions to presidential and Congressional candidates. Allows you to look up contributions by types of instrustry.

Political Action Committees
This site from the Center for Responsive Politics provides information on who received donations from or gave donations to PACs in the current or last two election cycles.

Political Parties 
This University of Michigan Documents Center site provides an alphabetical list of links to national party websites.

Project Vote Smart
Provides a wealth of information including weekly reviews of Congressional activities, information on local ballot issues, candidate's public statements and voting records, and information on how to register to vote. It covers individuals at both the federal and state levels.

Public Agenda Online
This nonpartisan research organization's mission is to determine what American think about policy issues and to educate the public about policy issues so they can make informed decisions. Of particular interest in this web site are the issue guides, the about polling section that provides guidelines for analyzing and interpreting poll results, and the behind the headlines section, which provides links to information relating to recent news stories.

State and Local

Assessing the New Federalism
This Urban Institute research project analyzes the shift of responsibility for social programs from the federal government to the states and seeks to provide "timely, nonpartisan information to inform public debate and to assist state and local policy makers in designing new policies and programs."

Council of State Governments
The Council advocates for state sovereignty and helps states work together to achieve policy goals. The web site provides a States News section and also contains reports on policy issues affecting the states.

National Conference of State Legislatures
Although some portions of this site are password protected, it does provide access to NCSL reports, a directory of state legislatures with links to their websites, and news about current policy issues.

National Governors Association
Provides access to policy papers, governor biographies, and online governor's staff directories.

National Priorities Project
Examines the impact of federal budgetary policies on states and communities. Enables users to create customized tables using federal statistics sources. Also provides information relating to state budgets.

Project Vote Smart
Provides a wealth of information including weekly reviews of Congressional activities, information on local ballot issues, candidate's public statements and voting records, and information on how to register to vote. It covers individuals at both the federal and state levels.

State and Local Government on the Net
A directory of official state, county, and local government websites.

Stateline.org
Provides access to state statistics, state of the state speeches, and news stories about current policy issues.

U.S. Conference of Mayors
A nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. Provides a wealth of information on individual cities and municipal affairs generally. Also includes mayoral election schedules and results.

Last updated: 9/3/2004
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