THE CHOICE 2008

THE CHOICE 2008 Teacher’s Guides
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 

In addition to the Web resources included in the guide, students and their teachers might want to look further.

Media literacy note: As with all issues, especially those that are politically charged, students must learn to be savvy and discriminating readers. No Web site can provide all the information a student needs to know, and teachers should encourage students to "interrogate" Web sites even as they are reading. Guiding questions as they work through these activities should be: What did you learn from this source? What didn't you learn from this source? Who sponsors this source? What bias might the sponsor have?

 

The Choice 2008
The companion Web site to the FRONTLINE report provides interviews with close advisers, friends, colleagues and political adversaries, glimpses of the defining moments of the candidates' lives, the attributes they bring to presidential leadership, and the opportunity to view the program online.

 

PBS Vote 2008
The PBS Vote 2008 Web site is a comprehensive resource that offers video, news and online tools from PBS national programs and local stations. Teachers and students can explore the election and related issues using a variety of lesson plans and Web-based tools and games.

 

Statistics on Voting and Voting Trends

 

U.S. Census: Voting and Registration
This U.S. Census Bureau Web page features data on voting and registration patterns from the 1998, 2000 and 2002 elections. It also offers historical data, tables presenting voting trends over time, and estimates and projections of the voting-age population from the Current Population Survey (CPS).

 

Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission hosts a site that offers information on recent election results, voter registration and turnout statistics, historical data, the Electoral College, the U.S. federal election system, and the administrative structure of U.S. elections.

 

USAGov For Citizens: Voting and Elections
USAGov.gov is an interagency initiative administered by the U.S. General Services Administration. The site presents information on the Electoral College, individual candidates, voting trends, and volunteering and contributions.

 

Campaign Speeches

 

American Rhetoric Online Speechbank
This site offers a directory of more than 5,000 speeches, interviews, debates and recorded media events. The links are arranged alphabetically by first name (use your browser's "Find" function to search for a specific speaker) and in two special collections: The Top 100 American Speeches and The Rhetoric of 9/11. Each entry notes whether the media is text or Real Audio (which can be either video or audio). 

Presidential Rhetoric.com
"PresidentialRhetoric.com provides news, information and resources for those interested in studying the presidency from a rhetorical perspective. Focusing largely on contemporary presidential issues, PresidentialRhetoric.com assists researchers in locating recent information relating to American presidents, political communication, and rhetorical criticism."

 

Campaign Advertisements

 

The Living Room Candidate
This page hosts an archive of televised presidential campaign commercials dating from 1952 to the present.

 

Wisconsin Advertising Project
The University of Wisconsin Advertising Project highlights where and on whom the campaigns are focusing in campaign 2008. Since 1998, the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project has undertaken research initiatives to document how candidates, political parties and special interest groups communicate with voters.

 

Campaign Analysis

 

FactCheck.org
Factcheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit project run out of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. This project reviews the factual accuracy of the television ads, debate statements, speeches, interviews and news releases of the presidential candidates.