4 Cool Sites to Track 2008 Election Coverage

August 26th, 2008

Sorry for the lack of posting! I’m in the midsts of planning the logistics of my move to Chicago and am rushing to meet a few final project deadlines before I go.

Since I am immersing myself in all things election for the next few weeks, I thought I’d share some of the cool sites I’ve come across while researching online.

1) Perspctv.com

Amber covered this on one of our last CommandN podcasts but I hadn’t gotten around to playing with it until a few days ago and I was really impressed. Perspectv collects over 14 visual web apps to monitor the election news. It not only monitors CNN national polls, but also listens to online news coverage, mentions in the blogsphere and twitter.

You can easily scroll to check out an electoral map, see a timeline of mentions and even get a handy widget, so that you can quickly scan and monitor everything from the convenience of your own blog.

2) CSPAN.org

CSPAN is doing a great job of covering the Democratic and Republican conventions. They have a great list of video highlights for anyone who missed any of the speeches.

I also like their live twitter coverage. It is definitely a great place to stop by especially if you are sad that you missed the convention like I am!


3) Huffington Post- FundRace

This cool google mash up lets you search by name or address to see which candidate your friends/enemies/coworkers/that creepy guy who says he’s a democrat but is clearly lying/ are supporting. You can zoom in quite close and see a list of addresses and contribution amounts that a particular person has donated. You can even transpose a 2004 map so you can see if there are any differences.

4) Google Power Readers:

As a self-proclaimed news junkie I love reading anything and everything about hot issues, and the election is no exception. I’ve often wondered Barack Obama or John McCain read, and thanks to Google I now know the answer! Google has recently introduced Political Power Readers, which allow you to subscribe to the shared items feed from big political movers and shakers. You can now get a glimpse into what catches the interest Obama, McCain (or at least their teams) as well as a slew of political journalist heavy hitters like Arianna Huffington and more!

Straight from Google’s Blog:

Today we’re announcing Google Power Readers in Politics: leading political journalists and both U.S. presidential campaigns using Reader to read and share news. You can read what they read, and see what’s on their minds as they share and discuss news. Each participant has created a reading list with a feed you can subscribe to in Reader (or any other feed reader), and is also publishing shared items. Here’s the list of participants:

Enjoy the coverage! I’ll be posting more soon. Are there any news sources in particular that you can’t live without? Leave them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list!

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Well Played : Obama & “Unnecssary” Quotations

August 19th, 2008

Short post today, I had actually written this post last week, but had some huge WordPress problems with uploading images. Problem fixed thanks to some blind blog surgery on my part, which isn’t usually recommended but sometimes you just have to close your eyes and hope for the best. I’ve got some awesome posts coming up filled with glorious, colorful images, so check back in soon!

Obama surpasses Kevin Rose on Twitter

Wired reports that Barack Obama has surpassed Digg founder Kevin Rose as Twitter’s most followed person. Over 56,000 follow the tweet updates from the campaign, and more are expected as the announcement of Obama’s running mate is announced.

In celebration, I also give a “well played” to the guy who made this video. Well played sir, well played.

“Unnecessary Quotations”

My friend Dan Smith over at Smithereen’s Blog shared this with me the other day. It’s a blog that tracks and shares the wonder of people who use unnecessary quotations. It’s laugh out loud funny, and I can see this becoming the next stuff white people like.

A sample:


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Well Played: JibJab Video – Viral Watch (Obama+Unicorn=Awesome)

July 31st, 2008

My friend AmberMac showed me this video from those charming lads over at JibJab and I thought it was pretty funny. Especially the Barack Obama part, but maybe because you all know where my loyalty lies. (Yes we can!) Anyway, regardless of your political affiliation, if you’re a US citizen just be sure to go out and vote! They are calling this the first YouTube election, and I can see why. With the compelling video content produced by both sides, it’s easier than ever before to reach out to voters and communicate.

This video is great because it let’s you upload a picture of yourself which gets turned into a character in the clip! So use it, and send it to all of your friends, especially around November time!

What do you think about this video?

The thing I’ve realized is that while we may disagree on a lot of things, our overall impressions of these last 8 years is pretty much the same. Someone over on Twitter sent me a link, depicting Anti-Bush graffiti in over 25 countries.

I guess we’re not all that different after all.

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