Money in the US Elections: who contributes?

Here are some recommendations for tracing research on the role of cash in the 2012 presidential elections.

The Federal Election Committee has a campaign disclosure portal. This has official disclosures from the candidates, data on contributions and expenditure.


PBS Frontline Big Money 2012

has been conducting a major campaign on money in the 2012 elections see its reports and findings on the website. Note some documentary material may not be accesible outside the USA.
Sunlight Commission Follow the Money website  has detailed analysis on amouints and sources of money in the races.

There is also a useful blog which highlights the latest stories concerning transparency.

Open secrets  Detailed analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics. This site has clear graphs which track top donors, sources and disclosure for the candidates.

New York Times has a brief compare the candidates in the money race graph
The Washington Post has a graph of spending on political ads by each party.
The Wall Street Journal has a feature called the political money ball which has visual diaplays of sources of finance for each candidate.
Democracy info also has good visual displays of sources of money



Political Money line is a subscription dataabase from CQ press . Its website tracks money releated issues in all campaigns. Its site offers free acess to headlines.

Presidential elections 2012: what do the polls say?

Here are some starting points for tracking the predicted outcome.
Remember that most of the news sources listed in yesterday's posting also have poll listings too!

Gallup polls.
This includes a tracking feature as well as a blog with comment on trends. There is also a US Presidential election center where you can trace polls back to 1936.It gives a very good break down of historic trends of party support by age, race, ethnicity.

Reuters American Mosaic Polls.
initiative for 2012 in association with ipsos they are focusing upon 10 groups these include: bible belt whites, rust belt, elderly, women, military, recent graduates. The site includes polls, news and photojournalism.

Marist poll
The Marist Institute for Public Opinion (MIPO) survey research center


Larry Sabato's crystal ball
A comprehensive website run by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics,

Real clear Politics latest polls.
News website summarises polls from a variety of sources.

Polling report.com - non partisan reports. includes daily gallup and other tracking.

Public Policy Pollling

Rasmussen polls daily updates - some features for subscribers only.

Quinnipiac University Poll regularly surveys residents in Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and nationwide about political races,

The IEM 2012  (Iowa Electronic Markets) U.S. Presidential Election Markets are real-money futures markets where contract payoffs will be determined by the popular vote cast in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election. There are currently two markets in this set:
Pres12_VS -- based on vote shares won by the two major party candidates in the 2012 U.S. Presidential election Pres12_WTA -- a winner take all market based on the popular vote plurality winner of the 2012 U.S. Presidential election

Ladbrokes Odds. - UK based betting odds on who is likely to win.

 
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Presidential elections 2012 : news services

Here is a list of links to major news services covering the elections.

News services.

USA
ABC news includes the matchomatic game
CBC News
Fox news
CNN Election Center. There is also a CNN election explorer which is tracking campaign finance, ads and money. CNN political ticker for coverage of the latest polls.CNN facebook analysis of the election on Facebook
NPR radio
New York Times in addition to news, films, also has interactive guides and analysis. Iphone app, electoral maps of swing states. and the 2012 money race comparison of the candidates.
PBS election news
Real Clear politics news site
Wall Street Journal coverage.
Washington Post includes an election map of predictions campaign finance maps..and a fact check feature.
The week news and opinion
The Nation coverage.
Huffington Post
C-Span video library. Includes debates, commercials and online news

UK
BBC
there is a good guides and background section at the foot of the page which explains key issues for non americans!
Guardian . This includes a data page of facts and figures.
Economist - has interactive guides
Telegraph analysis.

Overseas media

Jerusalem Post
Deutsche Welt
Le Monde coverage
La Stampe italy
El Pais - Spain
Watching America site collects news from around the world. it lonks to major national newspapers.

Coming soon US presidential elections: Starting points

Where can you get basic facts on how the United States presidential system works?
Federal Election commission has guides for US citizens on how to vote.
the US Electoral College page explains the operation of the voting system
 the video how to elect a president in plain English

USDOJ  information on civil rights and voting legislation for American voters.
United States Election Commission - how to vote information for the US electorate.se the voter guides.
League of women voters election guide.


Federal Election Commission basic starting point for finding information on electoral campaign finance laws.
includes the campaign finance disclosure portal

Ukraine elections - recommended resources

Ukrainian parliamentary election 2012 took place on 28 October 2012
Here are some starting points for finding out more.

The Central Elections commission official website
isnt in English but has lists of candidates and results.The Central statistical Institute has a map of the results by polling district.
Electua has results.
The European Centre for a Modern Ukraine has created a very good English language sute which has news, legislation and results
For information on recent opinion polls and voting trends
see the Razumkov website where there are upto date graphs and analysis in English.
The Ratings Group has analysis of trends in party support from 2005-2012. there is also a section of news releases relating to 2012 elections.
R&B group has exit polls on its website.
KIS exit polls
Democratic Intiatives Foundation has some polls and analysis in English relating to 2012.


Election assessments.

Commonwealth of the Independent States - Election Monitoring Organization has reports and press releases on the conduct of the elections.

IFES website has pre poll assessments and papers.
OSCE Preliminary assessments

Chavez wins election - our recommended resources

This week V Chavez won the venezuela presidential elections.
here are some recommended sites.
the official election commission has some detailed results and background information on the rules governing the election.
the main candidates websites has new, statements and comment.
Chavez
He alos has media materials on the alopresidente website
He is also renowned for having a large following on his twitter account.
His rival capriles also has over 1 million followers.and an official website.

other media sources from the region which have news coverage and comment in Spanish include:
Agencia Venezolana de Noticias
Conatel
VTV

other useful websites relating to the conduct of the electiosn include:
Reporters Without Borders ewhich places Venezuela 117th out of 179 in their 2011/2012 media freedom index.
IPYS research institute which discusses in Spanish the state of media and other civil rights in the region.
the carter center has some preliminary analysis of the conduct of the elections.

Venezuelaanalysis news site has a good selection of blogs both pro and anti government.

Georgia elections - were they fair?

This week elections took place in Georgia.
Reuters reported that international observers praised their conduct. For further information on this try these recommended websites.
The Official central election authority has background information- including a history of recent elections in Georgia and a 2012 section  It also has a page with the recent election results.




The OSCE sent an observer mission read their comments- plus reports on historic older elections on the website.
other comments from the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)
The Georgian Young Lawyers Association have also commented on their observations.
the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe has an excellent series of pre and post election coverage and reports on its website from a variety of Georgian and other organisations.
Also one to look at is the Elections portal created by three non-governmental organizations - International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) and Transparency International - Georgia (TI-Georgia) which has marked incidents of violations of democratic procedure pre, post and on the election day
Other good sites for coverage include Civil.Ge has English daily news updates.
Elections watch Jamestown Foundation which has analysis of the caucasus region.