Select2008 Blog - Comparing and tracking the 2008 presidential candidates

The Select2008 website has proposed four Candidates Face Offs for a  the last three weeks: two partisan ones - Clinton v Obama on the Democratic side, McCain v. Huckabee on the Republican side, and two independent face offs - McCain v. Clinton and McCain v. Obama.

Candidates Face Offs are a unique and non-partisan tool to compare and choose candidates to the 2008 primaries and presidential elections, by answering a personalized sequence of policy- and program-based questions.

We have now improved the overall experience to make it even more informative, engaging, and educative. Candidates Face Offs now provide live polling data about users’ opinion on each question asked and on candidates’ position. This feature is part of a bigger push to make even more data available to users to help them understand candidates’ positions and track opinion. Give it a try!!

Popularity: 37% [?]

Romney’s endorsement of McCain has now settled the Republican primaries and nomination process. On the other hand, the Democratic one is still unusually and intensely competitive, with both Clinton and Obama still having their shot at the nomination.

Wisconsin has a long-established tradition of open primaries. These primaries will provide an insight into voters’ opinions that will extend beyond the primaries and into the general election, as voters ponder the likelihood of a Democratic nominee facing a centrist Republican.

The Select2008 Blog has already highlighted the key differences between Clinton’s and Obama’s platforms, on key domestic and foreign issues. These differences are indeed very relevant to next week’s primaries. However, we would like to encourage Democratic, Republican and independent voters to have an eye on the general elections.

We will therefore focus the next few posts on helping voters think through the key policy and programmatic differences for a general elections face off between Clinton and McCain or between Obama and McCain.

Popularity: 44% [?]

The field of presidential hopefuls has narrowed down this week with Edwards and Giuliani bowing out of the race. However, the race is more competitive than ever, ahead of next week’s Super Tuesday primaries.

To help users make up their minds in these more confrontational times, we are launching four Primaries Face Offs on Select2008:

Users can still compare and choose among more than two candidates, especially useful for Republican and Independent voters.

Users can also refer to some of our recent blog posts on the Democratic Face Off and the Republican Face Off, as well as our posts to help Edwards and Giuliani supporters make up their minds.

Popularity: 36% [?]