o1mnikent

or, How to Follow the Presidential Campaign Sans Cable News

If you live in Washington, you’ll want to caucus next Saturday, February 9 at 1:00 in the afternoon. Don’t skip the caucus in lieu of voting in the primary. The primary is only a straw poll and has little more than symbolic value. The caucuses determine the delegates to conventions. If you live in Lynden, you’ll want to refer to this article in today’s Tribune that explains the process and lists the locations for each party.

If you can’t wait for the caucus to see who your neighbors are voting for, you can always refer to one of many websites that disclose campaign donations. I find the New York Times campaign finance website the easiest to work with.

Speaking of the Times, they also have a fascinating animation that illustrates campaign stops geographically, along with a schedule that lists future campaign appearances. It’s a useful predictor of campaign drop-outs. Yesterday I noticed that all of John Edwards’ campgain stops for today were canceled. Odd, I thought. Turns out there was a reason for that.

If you’re still following primary polls after the New Hampshire kerfuffle earlier this month, this site and this site are useful.

Since, as in 2004, religion plays a significant role in the campaign, I’ve enjoyed reading the GetReligion blog, which includes frequent contributions by Terry Mattingly, the religion editor of the Grand Rapids Press.

For other campaign matters, especially on the Democratic side, I’ve been following Andrew Sulliven’s blog. He also wrote a fascinating article on Barack Obama in last month’s Atlantic and also makes occasional appearances on the Colbert Report.