Top Ten Political Websites

Yup – six days until we know who the next President of the United States will be.  Whether you’re just tuning in now, or if you’ve been following this thing like a sports junky, I thought it might be helpful to throw up a list of my top ten favorite political websites/blogs for use in the last few days… when I’m doing my obsessive morning jump around to get info on the campaign, this is where I go to find the news.

10.  Drudge Report - In 2000 and 2004, Matt Drudge was probably the single most important political blogger, and possibly, the main driving force behind election storylines.  He’s a conservative with a knack for catching the waves before they break, and he’s been really good at directing reporters.  He’s one of the guys who helped make the Swift Boat thing happen.  Unfortunately, he seems to have lost his touch this time around – I think his partisanship has made it difficult for him to stick to the real truth in what is clearly a favorable climate for Democrats.  He seems to be grasping at straws – for example he keeps picking outlying polls and blaring about how the race is a dead heat.  McCain could pull off an upset, but come on, when Obama is between 5 and 15 points ahead, the race is not a dead heat.

9.  Politico – They’re the big kid on the block for political news, but I can’t really get behind the tone they set.  I usually like individual stories, but it takes itself a little too seriously for my taste… can’t explain it exactly, they’re just a little too hoighty toighty or something…

1-8 after the jump…

8. Huffington Post – Ariana Huffington is sort of the Queen of the liberal blogosphere… She’s essentially the liberal version of Drudge, but I think she’s a little too alarmist.  I generally agree with the politics, but I find that hyper liberal bloggers get annoying when they harp on the details way too much, like the Daily Kos, which I can’t stomach at all.  Still, she’s got some of the best videos around, and she stays right at the forefront of the news, so she’s worth a look.

7.  CNN Election Center – The only site I’ve found with a nice, pretty, easy user interface that allows you to play through electoral college scenarios – something that I’ll especially appreciate at 4 am on election night if this thing ends up close.  I’m not looking forward to endlessly switching Colorado from blue to red and back as the last precincts are reporting in Ohio, but if I have to, at least the graphics will be nice.

6.  Pollster – This is sort of the establishment poll site, I think – it’s pretty mainstream in it’s estimates, and for the most part, it just acts as a poll of polls that reflects the convential wisdom.  I usually use it as a counterpoint to 538 (see below) because I think it’s algorithms are simpler, which makes it a good way to see if 538′s predictions are coming true…

5.  The Trail – This is the first of three Washington Post blogs – I admit I’m partial to the Post since it was my local paper growing up, but I also think that they’ve done some really great work with blogging over the last few years.  I think that they realized early on that they could capitalize on their identity as the political newspaper of choice, so they quit complaining about the web and moved into the 21st century.  The Trail is a great way to keep up to date on the nitty gritty details of each campaign.  

4.  Media Notes – Howard Kurtz writes a blog everyday for the Post which does a comprehensive review of the current day’s political press.  Great way to keep tabs on the zietgeist of the moment, especially when you don’t feel like reading every newspaper out there.  He also throw his own insight into the mix, which I appreciate…

3.  The Fix – Chris Cilliza is my favorite of the Washington insider types.  He’s still young and unkown enough to keep his ego in check, and he keeps really good tabs on the pulse of the campaign.  His Friday line is great for keeping up with House and Senate races.  Also, I started reading him like a year ago, and now he’s actually becoming a cable news talking head – it warms my heart a little to see a political junky make good.  

2.  The Daily Dish – Andrew Sullivan is a British born conservative who jumped ship on W way before most conservatives realized his policies were completely antithetical to small government, free-market types.  He’s really smart,  he updates his blog like every 20 minutes or something, so it’s always current, and he’s just about always entertaining…

1.  538 – Nate Silver is a guy who uses really cool, advanced statistical analysis tools to interpret polls.  He’s super smart, and, along with Sean Quinn, he’s also a great blogger who pays attention to the stuff that really matters.  Quinn has an awesome running segment on the ground game in each state, and about how important the details are when it comes to winning this thing state by state.  If you just look at the national polls (which don’t really matter) and just watch cable news, you get locked into a horse race mentality.  538 has been highlighting the the real difference (hopefully) in this election, which is that Obama has a fantastic organization that should create a flood of new voters, and he’s got great strategists who understand how to win the electoral college, not just the popular vote.

So… those are my favorites… anyone have any other sites they think should be on the list?  The comments section is ready and waiting for you…