What are some good websites to compare '08 candidates and make politics easier to understand?

Question

Going to the candidates sites is good and all, but it makes it difficult to compare candidates easily, plus I find it hard to get interested in politics when its coming from the politicians themselves.

I have tried www.youngamericanvoters.com

www.usaelectionpols.com

and any other sites I can pull up from search engines HELP ME!

Answer 1

You jot down what you think is important qualifications to be able to do the job, and what qualifications they have.

Hillary has maybe 30 years experience being a lawyer, among other things ... is 1 year of being a lawyer worth the same as 1 year of someone else being a Mayor or a Governor?  Is 1 year of being a Mayor worth 3 years of being a Governor?  Come up with what you think is a good ranking for saying a person has relevant credentials.

Me, I think the years McCain spent in a POW camp is relevant experience ... that means he KNOWS how important Diplomacy is in avoiding War, and the importance of not having a precdent that it is Ok to torture prisoners.  People who have not served much time in the military might not understand that.

Some candidates have done stuff and said stuff, that has come back to haunt them.  Take a hard look at the situation they were in, in context, what was really known at the time they made those statements, to see if we are being unreasonable.

Watch the debates on TV ... there have been a ton of them, and they get replayed periodically.

Also watch the 3rd party debates ... where it is candidates from other than Democratic & Republican parties ... you can see that on C-Span.

Watch Republican, Democratic, and 3rd party debates.

The candidates are required to register where they get the money used in the campaign ,,, take a hard look at that ... does a candidate appear to be overly influenced by a particular special interest?

Here are some non-partisan sites where you can get good info to help educate yourself about the choices and issues.

http://www.presidentialelection.com/

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index....

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/election/pr...

http://www.pollingreport.com/2008.htm

You can find more by search engine vs. keywords like

US President Election Candidates

I like Wikipedia, but it can be biased and sabotaged.

There's info here about 3rd parties, changes to the relevant laws, such as restructuring the Electoral College, and write-in campaigns.  For example, Al Gore is not running for President, but there's people who plan to write him in anyway.

Wikipedia has tons of interesting link.

Most 3rd parties tend to be either single issue, or some extremes, but currently with Democrats being pulled to the left, and Republicans to the right, there's a lot of interest in a Central alternative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stat...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stat...

Go to the actual web site of each candidate, so you can see what THEIR position is on stuff, and not rely on the lies that other people are saying about them.

Take notes, to put in your own document.

What is the topic?

Cut & paste what each candidate has to say about that topic.

Add your own comments ... do you give this candidate an A B C D or F grade on what they have to say about that topic?

Answer 2

Meet the Press has been interviewing all the candidates.  You can watch the videos of the ones that were already aired at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/

Answer 3

I use this one, it even has quiz links that can help identify which political party you are and you can use that to best match the candidate you like.  

http://ontheissues.org/default.htm