During the summer, before students travel to their campaign site, the faculty will assign students several books and articles to help them prepare for their Campaign Semester experience in the fall.
In addition, students should stay informed about upcoming political campaigns through a variety of news outlets. Once they have selected a campaign to work on, students should learn about the demographics of and problems facing the state or district, the key themes of the campaigns, the issues, and the candidates.
Sources of Information
To stay abreast of the Presidential, Senate, House, and Gubernatorial campaigns in each state, as well as the general political environment, there are many sources of information. The most important are the major newspapers in each state. Students should identify the major daily papers in their state and read them regularly. The major national newspapers New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal will have regular articles and analyses about the national and state campaigns. The weekly news magazines—Time, Newsweek, U.S. News, and the British weekly, The Economist—provide regular coverage of American politics and elections.
There are many sources of information about the demographics and political background of states. The U.S. Census, which has demographic profiles of each state. (Look under American FactFinder on the U.S. Census website).
Students should become familiar with the Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Politics in America (published by Congressional Quarterly) and the Almanac of American Politics (published by the National Journal). Each is published every year and has descriptions of all states and Congressional districts, profiles of current members of Congress, and other information. The Occidental Library has copies of the most recent editions of both books.
has information on voting records, rankings by interest groups, campaign contributions, and other facts about each Congressperson.
The League of Women Voters in each state and city may have a website with information about the state and about the current candidates and their campaigns.
is the best source of information on campaign contributions to candidates for President and Congress.
The and are good sources of information about political trends, campaigns, polling information, and other information.
There are dozens of websites and blogs about American politics, and the politics in particular states, from many perspectives. Here are a few:
- (a blog focusing on young people and politics)
Finally, the U.S. has a wide variety of publications (and now websites) that are often called "opinion" magazines, that look at politics from a particular ideological perspective. It is useful to read publications from different viewpoints, which helps sharpen one's analysis and understanding. Here are some of the best "opinion" publications, each of which is available on line:
- Conservative: Weekly Standard, American Spectator, National Review, Bulwark
- Liberal: New Republic, Washington Monthly
- Progressive: The Nation, American Prospect, The Progressive
Monitoring the Media
There are a number of good websites that monitor media coverage of campaigns. Some of the best include:
- - a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, this website monitors what the campaigns and candidates say in their speeches, interviews and ads
- - a project of the Columbia University School of Journalism, this journalist-written website monitors how the media are covering the campaigns on a daily basis
- - liberal
- - progressive
- - conservative