News | General Political Sites | Non-Partisan Sites | Basic Documents | National Government | Virginia Government | Campaign 2008 | Miscellany | International | Humor and Parody Sites

U.S. Politics Resources

C.L. Brians, Ph.D.

Department of Political Science

Virginia Tech

This page is intended to aid students, and others, in their research and keeping abreast with politics.

Political and Other News:

CNN's political ticker offers updates from the political world, several times a day.

Politics Now is a now-defunct effort combining the resources of ABC News, the National Journal/Government Executive Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and Newsweek.

The Los Angeles Times launched its Internet edition in April 1996. It includes daily news and features, coverage of movies and entertainment, a computers and technology section, a special section devoted to Southern California sights and events, classified advertising and chat boards. The site is free. A fee-based site will also be available, with access to the Times archives as well as educational and research services.

ABC's The Note is a daily rundown of the personalities and events making news each day.

THE C-SPAN NETWORKS: On this site for the two C-SPAN Networks can usually be found RealAudio news conferences, plus upcoming campaign schedules, profiles (with photographs) of cabinet members and members of Congress, and a host of other political materials.

General Political Sites:

CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS: The Web site for "The Magazine for Political Professionals," Campaigns & Elections Online offers articles from the current issue, archives of past ones, subscription information, and sales of political campaign ad memorabilia and other political resources.

Non-Partisan Sites - Reference

FEC: FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION: The FEC's Web page includes information on campaign finance law and huge, downloadable files on candidates and PACs--a potential treasure trove of data on how politics really work.

The Campaign Finance Institute - A non-partisan, non-profit institute associated with The George Washington University, focused on campaign finance.

CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY'S AMERICAN VOTER: With material straight from the venerable Beltway publication, this CQ site includes the usual candidate profiles and links to other political sites. Especially useful are search functions that enable you to gather data on any current member of Congress.

Project Vote Smart, a self-proclaimed "scrupulously non-partisan" effort, intends this site to be "your one-stop shopping center for political information."

The Census Bureau is the most comprehensive collection of U.S. demographic and geographic (and some political) background reference material available on the Web.

Basic Documents - Reference

• Magna Carta
• Declaration of Independence
• U.S. Constitution
• Take a look at the full text of, signatories to, and Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

The National Government - Reference

• The Legislative Branch
• Congress
• Bill Search on Thomas
• CONGRESS.ORG: The Congress.org site is nothing less than a labor of love, not an "official" product of the U.S. Congress so much as, in its own words, the "product of a couple of impatient Capitol Hill staffers who felt it was an effort worth undertaking." In the words of CNN, Congress.org offers "links to many 'Inside the Beltway' resources and has valuable information on Capitol Hill people and legislation."
• The Executive Branch
• Executive Power
• The President
• The Judicial Branch
• U.S. Courts
• Understanding the Federal Courts
• Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court (with a point-and-click photograph of the justices)
• U.S. Supreme Opinions

Virginia Government - Reference

Any general requests for information at the state level should be directed to the Council of State Governments. The state in which I have have a particular interest is Virginia.

• The Legislature
• Senate
• House of Delegates

• A description of the job held by the Governor and some of his policy proposals.

• A description of the Virginia Court system.

International Information:

• If you are looking for European information you may want to try Great Britain's Political Studies Association. For Canadian Political Science Information, go to the Canadian Political Science Association.

Political Humor and Parody sites

• CAPITOL STEPS: The well-known Beltway spoof troupe, star of C-SPAN and CNN, gives its site over to original songs which might be downloaded and played, and to political cartoonery.
• DOONESBURY ELECTRONIC TOWN HALL: Here well-known characters from the Doonesbury comic strip serve as gateways to various rooms in a "Town Hall." Along with the pervasive humor can be found political news courtesy of The Hotline and PoliticsUSA, various straw polls "as accurate as they are pointless," and a search engine for Doonesbury strips dating back to 1972.

Campaign 2008:

• Here are the newest Presidential campaign (and pre-Presidential) sites, anticipating the 2008 election.

Democrats:
• Joe Biden
• Hillary Rodham Clinton
• Wesley Clark
• Christopher Dodd
• John Edwards
• Al Gore
• Mike Gravel
• Dennis Kuchinich
• Barack Obama
• Bill Richardson
• Tom Vilsack
Republicans:
• Jim Gilmore - Unofficial Draft Gilmore Site
• Mike Huckabee - Unofficial Huckabee for President Blog
• Duncan Hunter
• Newt Gingrich
• Rudy Giuliani
• John McCain
• Mitt Romney
• Tommy Thompson
• Ron Paul

Campaign Ads - Multimedia Links

• All Politics Ad Archive
• The Living Room Candidate - Presidential campaign commercials from 1954 and on.

Miscellaneous Political Sites:

Look, but don't reproduce the JPEG Seal at The FBI.

Information on many countries' constitutions and treaties may be found in Clamen's Political Archives.

The National Rifle Association has the latest info on firearms legislation and rights.

Books and more are resourced by the Library of Congress.

Comments or Suggestions

Page designed, maintained and Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 by Craig Leonard Brians. E-mail comments to CBrians@vt.edu. Return to Craig Leonard Brians' home page.

Return to Virginia Tech Department of Political Science

Created June 23, 1996

Last Updated July 31, 2008