Democratic Party Candidates

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL)

Official Senate website: http://obama.senate.gov/ [1]

• Issue statements: http://obama.senate.gov/issues/ [2]
• Voting Record: http://obama.senate.gov/votes/ [3]
  • Click on Vote No. (i.e. Vote No. 169) in left hand column to see details
• Speech Archive: http://obama.senate.gov/speech/ [4] (Speeches through 2007)

Campaign website: http://www.barackobama.com/index.php [5]

• Issue statements: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ [6]
  • Scroll down to find your issue OR hover your mouse over the word “Issues” on the main page and you will see a drop-down menu appear
• Speeches: http://www.barackobama.com/speeches/index.php [7]  (2002-2008)

Washington Post website – links related to Barack Obama

• Main page: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/?nid=roll_08campaign [8]  (election home page)
• Obama’s Issue Statements: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/barack-obama/ [9]
  • Select issue statements listed under “On the Issues”
  • Under “Issue Coverage Tracker”, you can see visual display of how many times a candidate has mentioned a certain issue and which ones are top issues.
• Voting Records: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/o000167/ [10]  
  • Scroll down to “Key Votes” and select
  • Screen will list date, bill number and how Obama voted on bill

New York Times website – links related to Barack Obama

• Main page:  http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/index.html [11]  (election home page)
• On the Issues: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/issues/abortion.html [12]
  • Compares Obama’s and McCain’s statements on certain issues side by side
  • Can select specific issue from left hand column on this page

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE)

Official Senate website: http://biden.senate.gov/ [13]

• Issue statements: http://biden.senate.gov/issues/ [14]
  • Either select link above and scroll down screen to find your issue OR hover mouse over the word “Issues” on main page to see drop down menu
• Legislation: http://biden.senate.gov/issues/legislation/ [15]
  • Select bill number and it will take you to a screen in THOMAS where you can see more details
• Speeches: http://biden.senate.gov/press/speeches/ [16] (2000-2008)
  • Can select speeches by topic (lower right hand side of screen)

Campaign website: http://www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_joe.php [17]

New York Times website - links related to Biden

• Main page:  http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/index.html [11]  (election home page)
• Page on Biden: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/joseph_r_jr_biden/index.html [18]
• Running Mates on the Issues: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/issues/vice-presidents/index.html [19]
  • Shows statements from Biden and Palin on some, but not all, issues

Democratic National Convention Speeches: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/dems.html [20]

Republican Party Candidates

Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

Official Senate website: http://mccain.senate.gov/public/ [21]

• Click on “Issues and Legislation” from menu on home page
  • “Issues” will show all press releases from McCain’s office regarding a specific issue
  • “Legislation” lists all bills that McCain has sponsored recently
    • Click on bill number (i.e. S.Res.70) to see more information
• Speech Archive: http://mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.Speeches [22]  (Speeches through 2007)

Campaign website: http://www.johnmccain.com/ [23]

• Issue statements: http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/ [24]
• Speeches: http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/Speeches/ [25] (2008)

Washington Post website – links related to John McCain

• Main page http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/?nid=roll_08campaign [8] (election home page)
• McCain’s Issue Statements: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/john-mccain/ [26]
  • Select issue statements listed under “On the Issues”
  • Under “Issue Coverage Tracker”, you can see visual display of how many times a candidate has mentioned a certain issue and which ones are top issues.
• Voting Records: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/m000303/ [27]
  • Scroll down to “Key Votes” and select
  • Screen will list date, bill number and how McCain voted on bill.

New York Times website – links related to John McCain

• Main page:  http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/index.html [11] (election home page)
• On the Issues: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/issues/abortion.html [12]
  • Compares McCain’s and Obama’s statements on certain issues side by side
  • Can select specific issue from left hand column on this page

Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK)

Official state website: http://gov.state.ak.us/ [28]

• News & Announcements: http://www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php [29]
• News/Press Archive: http://www.gov.alaska.gov/archive.php [30]

Campaign website: http://www.johnmccain.com/about/governorpalin.htm [31]

New York Times website - links related to Sarah Palin

• Main page: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/index.html [11]  (election home page)
• Page on Palin: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/sarah_palin/index.html [32]
• Running Mates on the Issues: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/issues/vice-presidents/index.html [19]
  • Shows statements from Palin and Biden on some, but not all, issues

Note: Sarah Palin does not have a voting record because she has only held executive positions in the state of Alaska.

Republican National Convention Speeches: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/gop.html [33]

Articles, Fact Checking and Voting Records

Lexis Nexis Academic & America’s Newspapers (Databases A-Z from library home page)

• Major U.S. and World Publications, can limit by state
• Television and radio transcripts

Lexis Nexis Congressional (Databases A-Z from library home page)

• Voting Records of Senators
  • Select Members and Committees from left hand side menu
  • Enter name and select “Floor Votes” or “Key Votes”
  • Will give you a voting profile for each individual Congress
  • Click on a profile and you will see how candidate voted on specific bill on the left hand side of the screen as well as a link to the bill
• Congressional Record (Transcript of comments made on floor of Senate or House)
  • Click on “Daily Congressional Record and Rules” on left hand side of screen
  • You can search the Congressional Record by a subject or keyword (i.e. economy) AND limit your results to who was speaking on the floor (i.e. McCain, Obama, Biden)
  • You can tell who is speaking in the Congressional Record by the fact that it will say “Mr. OBAMA.”, for example

FactCheck.org (Annenberg Political Fact Check, UPenn): http://factcheck.org/ [34]

• Nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics

Politifact (St. Petersburg Times and CQ): http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ [35]

• PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, both independent sources, to help find the truth in the presidential campaign.

Other Sources of Information

Transcripts

• Commission on Presidential Debates: http://www.debates.org/ [36]
  • Official Transcript from Sept. 26, 2008 Presidential Debate can be found at http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2008a.html [37]
  • Transcripts from other debates (October 2nd, October 7th and October 15th) will be posted here after debate has taken place

Google Government: http://www.google.com/ig/usgov [38]

• This will search all local, state, and federal government websites, military websites and government related websites.