Internet resources for the 1996 election

By the ACRL Law and Political Science Section Library Instruction Committee

site. Access: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/cp- Extra! Extra! Get all your election usa/. information here! • Democratic Party Online. This official site has news and features from the party, con­ vention updates, briefings, press releases, and olitical Campaigning in Cyberspace: Se­ news from the White House. Read the P lecting Leaders for the Future” was the NewtGram, a newsletter published by the theme of an exciting program sponsored by Democratic National Committee that “chronicles ACRL’s Law and Political Science Section at the the exploits” of House Speaker Gingrich. Ac­ 1996 ALA Annual Conference. To support the cess: http://www.democrats.org. program, the section’s Library Instruction Com­ • Green Party. Research the party’s his­ mittee prepared a Web page devoted to Inter­ tory and platform, review past election results, net campaign resources called “Campaigning and read organizing and campaign tips. Access: in Cyberspace: Parties, Candidates, Issues and http://www.greens.org/usa/. Analysis” (http://refserver.lib.vt.edu/stemmer/ • Libertarian Party. This site offers the cyberpolitics.html). Committee members party’s position papers and publications explain­ worked on one or more sections of the page, ing the party’s history and goals, as well as in­ screening, selecting, and often annotating sites formation on upcoming elections. Access: http: dealing with political parties, primaries, con­ //www.lp.org/lp/lp.html. ventions, presidential candidates, issues, state • Natural Law Party. This page seeks to and local candidates, nonpartisan groups, news further the party’s emphasis on “proven solu­ analysis, scholarly discussion lists, and electronic tions for America through prevention-oriented conferences. This column is based on the re­ government” by providing information about sources selected by committee members. the party’s history, stance on the issues, and platform. Listen to audio clips from the party’s National political parties candidates. Access: http://www.natural-law.org/ The Information Superhighway allows inter­ nlpusa/. ested groups to promote their ideas and points • Reform Party. This page includes press of view easily and quickly. Political parties have releases, news articles, and state-by-state elec­ been quick to take advantage of this new way tion information. Access: http://www. to disseminate information on their candidates reformparty.org/. and recruit new members and volunteers. • Republican National Committee Smaller political parties, in particular, have (RNC). Organized around the concept of a small found that the Internet can greatly expand the town main street, this site includes the party reach of their organizations. platform, rules and other information about the • Com m unist Party USA. Party informa­ RNC (at H.Q.), news releases (at the newsstand), tion, position papers, and selected articles from position statements, charts and graphs (in the the People’s Weekly World are included at this school), and GOP contact information (in the

Members o f the ACRL Law and Political Science Section Library Instruction Committee are Laura Bartolo (chair), Christine Angolia, Elaine Coppola, Janice Steed Lewis, John Stemmer, Lisa Stimatz, and Sally Willson Weimer.

September 1996/481 post office). Order GOP golf shirts and coffee Republican Party candidates mugs in the gift shop. Access: http://www.rnc. Pat Buchanan org/. • Pat Buchanan’s Official Internet Cam­ • Socialist Party USA Cybercenter. The paign Headquarters. This official campaign Cybercenter includes the party’s principles and page includes articles and essays by Buchanan, history, an online discussion list, and informa­ his position statements, and biography. The site tion on how to join. Access: http://sunsite.unc. can be searched by keyword. Access: http:// edu/spc/index.html. www.buchanan.org/. • National Politics & Personalities. An • The Pat Buchanan for President Link. extensive list of links to mainstream and fringe This unofficial site has a comprehensive col­ political organizations, both liberal and con­ lection of Buchanan material, including sound servative. Access: http://www.rtis.com/nat/ clips. Access: http://www.iac.net/~davcam/ pol/. pat.html. • Third Party Central. Provides informa­ • Pat Buchanan’s Republican Primary tion on the third party movement in American Page. Buchanan’s announcement speech, bi­ politics in order to raise public awareness of ography, positions on the issues, speeches, and these alternative parties and to encourage par­ press coverage can be found at this site. Ac­ ticipation in the democratic process. Access: cess: http://www.umr.edu:80/~sears/primary/ http://www.math.princeton.edu/~tpbarber/3pc. buchanan.html.

Democratic Party candidates Bob Dole Note: Only candidates w ho w ere still in the • Official Dole for President Homepage. presidential race in June 1996 are included here. This comprehensive, user-friendly site has many The information was current as of August 12. interactive features including a U.S. map that tracks the Dole campaign’s progress in every Bill Clinton state. The library includes press releases, fact • Clinton/Gore ’96. Funded by the Clinton/ sheets, speeches, sound clips, videos, and pho­ Gore Primary Committee, this site was unveiled tographs. Access: http://www.dole96.com/. in July. The administration’s accomplish­ • Bob Dole’s Republican Primary ments, campaign issues, and biog­ Page. Campaign finance information, raphies of the candidates are in­ Dole’s voting record, ratings by spe­ cluded. “Downloadables” lets cial-interest groups, speeches, and surfers download campaign but­ a biography can be found at this tons and video clips. Access: site. Access: http://www.umr.edu/ www.cg96.org/. ~ sears/primary/dole.html. • The President of the • The Bob Dole Supple­ United States. A de facto cam­ m en t. In addition to the usual paign site, with recent presidential speeches, news articles, and quotes, accomplishments, Clinton’s biography, this site includes trivia questions, com­ photographs, and the text of his public ad­ mentary, and the ability to search Usenet posts. dresses. Access: http://www.whitehouse.gov/. It also includes some Spanish-language articles. • Clinton, Yes! Unofficial homepage with Access: http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~lapple/ news articles and excerpts from speeches. Ac­ bobdole.html. cess: http://www.av.qnet.com/~yes/. • C lin to n /G o r e ’96. Humorous yet Robert K. D om an friendly unofficial campaign site, heavy on im­ • Bob Dornan’s Republican Primary ages, with links to other Clinton/Gore and Page. This unofficial site includes Dornan’s bi­ Democratic sites. Access: http://www.linknet. ography, voting record, ratings by special- net/~lsufan/politics.htm. interest groups, and campaign finance infor­ mation. Access: http://www.umr.edu:80/~sears/ Lyndon LaRouche primary/doman.html. • LaRouche Exploratory Committee. Official campaign headquarters, with biographi­ Alan Keyes cal information and issue areas. Access: http:// • Alan Keyes for President ’96. This un­ www.dark.net/larouche/welcome.html. official page from the Right Side of the Web

4 8 2 /C&RL News September 1996/483 includes a letter from Keyes, the text and audio Democratic Party vice-presidential of speeches, and Keyes’s biography. Access: candidate http://www.clark.net/pub/jeffd/keyes_96. Al Gore html. • Vice President Gore’s Homepage. Bi­ • Alan Keyes Network Home Page. Com­ ography and information about issues on which prehensive campaign information, including the vice-president has taken the lead, includ­ press releases, positions on issues, and speeches ing National Performance Review, the environ­ can be found at this unofficial page, along with ment, science, and technology. Access: http:// campaign paraphernalia ranging from brochures www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OVP/html/ to t-shirts. It also includes browsable archives GORE_Home.html. of mailing list messages and quotations by Keyes. Access: http://sandh.com/keyes/index. Libertarian vice-presidential html. candidate Jo Jorgensen • Jo Jorgensen for Vice President. Bi­ ography, press releases, and campaign infor­ mation aimed specifically at members of Gen­ eration X. Access: http://www.harrybrowne96. org/jo/.

Green Party candidate Primaries Ralph Nader • AllPolitics: Primary & Caucus Dates. • The Unofficial Ralph Nader for Presi­ A detailed calendar of primary and caucus dates dent Page. This page includes interviews, press giving number of delegates for both Republi­ coverage, and links to organizations founded can and Democratic parties. Access: http://all by N ader. Access: http://www.rahul.net/ politics.com/candidates/calendar/primaries. cameron/nader/. shtml. • Draft Nader for President Clearing­ • Countdown ’96: Primaries and Cau­ house. This unofficial page includes informa­ cuses. Links to 1996 primary and caucus re­ tion on how to assist Nader’s campaign on a sults, primaries and caucuses by date and state, state-by-state basis. Access: http://www.vais.net/ and individual primaries. Access: http://www. ~nader96/. comeback.com/countdown/primary.html. • Cybercaucus: Iowa’s First-in-the-Na­ Libertarian Party candidate tion Caucus. This site includes a history of the Harry Browne Iowa caucus from 1846 to the present, a list of • Harry Browne for President. Official past election outcomes, and information on this homepage includes statements, articles, inter­ year’s caucus, with related stories from the Des views, news releases, and endorsements. Ac­ Moines Register. Access: http://www.drake.edu/ cess: http://www.HarryBrowne96.org/. public/caucus.html. • Nerd World: USA Primaries. A list of Natural Law Party candidate links related to primaries, arranged by candi­ John Hagelin date. Access: http://www.nerdworld.com/cgi- • John Hagelin. Official homepage in­ bin/page.cgi?USA_PRIMARIES/600. cludes the party platform and action plan, au­ • University of New Hampshire: NH- dio clips, news releases, and biographical in­ Primary. A comprehensive archive of cam­ formation about Hagelin and vice-presidential paign activities related to the 1996 New Hamp­ candidate Mike Tompkins. Access: h ttp :// shire presidential primary. Features vote totals, www.hagelin.org/hagelin/. candidates, media coverage, issue statements, survey data and analysis, and past primary re­ Socialist Party candidate sults. Access: http://unhinfo.unh.edu/unh/acad/ Mary Cal Hollis libarts/comm/nhprimary/nhprim.html. • The Socialist Party Presidential Cam­ paign. The homepage for Hollis includes her Conventions biography and press releases. Access: http:// • Chicago ’96. Homepage of the host com­ sunsite.unc.edu/spc/prez/index.html. mittee for the 1996 Democratic National Con­

4 8 4 /C&RL News vention. Access: http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Chi­ ers to keyword search CNN stories and Time cago96/. articles. Access: http://allpolitics.com/. • Democratic National Party Conven­ • Campaign ’96 (CBS). News features, tion 96. Information about the delegate selec­ coverage of the campaign trail, results from CBS tion process, past convention history and high­ News polls, issue profiles, and campaign fund­ lights, the party platform, and links to “a ing data compose the bulk of this site. “Elec­ welcome map of web sites” about Chicago. tion 101” provides background information on Access: http://www.democrats.org/party/con- the delegate selection process and campaign vention/index.html. financing law. “State-by-State” provides exten­ • Convention ’96 San Diego: 1996 GOP sive tabular information on primaries, delegates, National Convention Information Page. races, 1992 election results, and a current ros­ Covers Bob Dole and former candidates, the ter of state officials. Access: http://www. issues, and what to see and do in San Diego. cbsnews.com/campaign96/home/. Includes links to other GOP and political sites. • Countdown ’96 Home Page. Main­ Access: http://www.GoThere.com/sandiego/ tained by Essential Presence, an Internet mar­ conv_ctr/conv96sd.htm. keting firm, this site strives to be the Internet’s most comprehensive resource for information State and local elections about the 1996 presidential election, from par­ Many news and voter education sites also ties and candidates to issues and special-inter­ contain information about upcoming state est groups. As part of its goal to provide a single elections. source that will help voters make an informed • ElectNet. Organized by state, this site voting decision, it provides links to state and provides a summary of the political climate in local parties, primary and caucus results by date each state, with links to incumbent officials, and state, opinion and analysis, election and candidates and other state political Web sites. political news, election games and simulations, ElectNet covers candidates from governor to political humor, online opinion polls, sheriff. Access: http://www.el.com/gov/home. newsgroups, and voter information and educa­ htm. tion. Access: http://www.comeback.com/count- • State and Local Candidates. Links to dow n/. state and local candidates from the National • CQ’s American Voter ’96. Congressional Political Index. Access: http://www.political Quarterly’s (CQ) Web site is packed with in­ index.com/sect9.htm. formation on national politics and political play­ ers, including full-text articles from CQ publi­ News sites cations. Unique features include “Rate Your A number of print and national network news Candidate” and “Rate Your Rep,” which allow organizations sponsor comprehensive elec­ voters to compare their positions on key issues tion Web sites. These sites include news and with those of individual candidates and mem­ analysis of the candidates, races, and issues. bers of Congress. “On the Job” provides access Many have special features such as poll results, to congressional votes, speeches, and bills. Ac­ online polling, special interest group ratings, cess: http://voter96.cqalert.com/. etc. • PoliticsNow. Created by the merger of • AllPolitics. Buttons for news, issues, Election Line and PoliticsUSA, this site draws candidates, analysis, games, polls, and states from the resources of Newsweek, the Washing­ keep users up-to-date with all aspects of the ton Post, ABC News, the NationalJournal, and ‘96 campaign, courtesy of CNN and Time maga­ the American Political Network. It includes news zine. A detailed calendar of primary and cau­ coverage and analysis of state and federal elec­ cus dates gives the number of delegates for tions, campaign finance data, online polling, both Republican and Democratic parties. The and links to candidates’ and political advocacy issues link provides a “Quick Take” summary groups’ homepages. Special features include the of the issues, the results of public opinion polls, day’s Washington Post, the latest Associated and links to related stories from Time and CNN. Press news, and the current issue of Newsweek. Other unique features include political stories Comprehensive issues information is organized from Lexis-Nexis and the Associated Press, poll into five sections, including “At a Glance,” which results, cartoons, a virtual election, and the cur­ presents statistics and, occasionally, a glossary; rent issue of Time. A search feature allows us­ “Time Line,” a chronological review of impor­

September 1996/485 tant events; “Legislation,” which summarizes Comprehensive guides to election recent bills; and “Presidential Candidates,” resources which presents positions taken by Bill Clinton • Campaign 96 Online. This “comprehen­ and Bob Dole on issues. Access: h ttp :// sive guide to online politics” includes links to www.politicsnow.com. pages for presidential, congressional, and state • Showdown ’96. This graphics-intensive candidates, parties, directories, media, nonpar­ site uses charts and graphs to effectively com­ tisan election information, advocacy groups, municate election information, including del­ liberal and conservative sites, and sites for gov­ egate counts, primary results, campaign fi­ ernment information. Access: http://campaign. nances, polling results, and state-by-state data. 96.com/index.html. The issues section includes a summary of each • The Jefferson Project. Links to federal, issue, the candidates’ stands on the issue, in­ state, and local incumbents and candidates, as terest group ratings, and links to advocacy well as party resources, groups on the left and groups. Access: http://www.iguide.com/ right, issues and activists, and political watch­ pol_govt/showdown/index.htm. dog organizations. Access: http://www.voxpop. org/jefferson/. Voter education groups Many voter education organizations are estab­ Scholarly discussion lists and lishing a presence on the Internet. These in­ electronic conferences clude well-established names like the League • CLINTON. Bill Clinton’s presidency. Sub­ of Women Voters, and new groups such as scribe: [email protected]. Project Vote Smart. These are efforts to pro­ • DEM-DIGITALS. Maintained by Digitals, vide voters with the information they need to a small group of Democratic Party activists, for come to an informed judgment before voting. sharing practical campaign techniques, tools, • League of Women Voters Election ’96. information, activities, etc. Debate or discus­ Part of the League’s efforts to get out the vote, sion of issues or personalities is prohibited. this site provides state-by-state registration in­ Subscribe: [email protected]. formation, an update on the success of the • DEMOCRATS96. 1996 Democratic cam­ National Voter Registration Act, and background paign. Subscribe: [email protected]. on election issues. Access: http://www.lwv.org/ • Elections-reform. Electoral reform in­ ~lwvus/elect.html. cluding proportional representation, campaign • Power the Vote. This site, jointly spon­ finance, and media access. Subscribe: sored by the League of Women Voters and the [email protected]. Ladies’ Home Journal, provides up-to-the- • Election-methods. Details of election minute campaign information of special inter­ reform proposals. Subscribe: majordomo@ est to women. Access: http://www.lhj-lwv.com/. igc.apc.org. • Vote Smart Web. Project Vote Smart, a • EMILY’S LIST Email Network. A weekly nonpartisan voter education organization, main­ digest of EMILY’s List campaign and candidate tains this Web site to help citizens and journal­ news, information on women voters, and po­ ists obtain objective information on federal and litical news from women on the Hill. Subscribe: state candidates. Vote Smart provides extensive [email protected]. information about candidates’ backgrounds, vot­ • INDEPENDENTS96. 1996 Independent ing records, campaign finances, and interest campaign. Subscribe: [email protected]. group ratings. Candidates’ answers to the EDU. group’s National Political Awareness Test, de­ • PEROT. H. Ross Perot’s presidential cam­ signed to determine their positions on impor­ paign. Subscribe: [email protected]. tant issues, are included and links are provided • PRES161. 1996 presidential election dis­ to other sources on the Internet, including pages cussion list. Subscribe: LISTSERV@LISTSERV. for candidates and interest groups. Access: http: uic.edu. //www.vote-smart.org/. • REPUBLICANS96. About the 1996 Re­ • Voter Information Services. Provides publican campaign. Subscribe: LISTSERV@VM. interest group ratings of individual members of MARIST.EDU. Congress as well as their “Contract With • VOICE-L. General election campaign is­ America” voting record. Access: http://world.std. sues and media coverage. Subscribe: com/~voteinfo. [email protected]. ■

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