Tips on URL Hunting

Basic Concepts of New Media

Dr. Philip N. Howard

Department of Communication

University of Washington

THIRD PARTIES.  There are many third parties in the United States.  If you think your state has a small number of candidates, you are probably missing some of these.  There is a huge list of other independent, labor, green and religious political parties here, but these are the five independent parties most likely to be fielding candidates for Governor, US Senate, and US House of Representatives:

Constitution Party

Green Party

Libertarian Party

Natural Law Party

Reform Party

NAME IN THE URL.  Some websites look like they are campaign websites, but are actually set up by a political party or hosting organization.  Sometimes they are on a government server (ending *.gov) and these are NOT campaign sites.  You know you have the right website if the person’s name is somewhere in the URL, like www.CoopmanForSenate.com, www.marwick2004.com, or www.votephil.org.

ONLINE CATALOGUES.  Websites like Project Vote Smart and Congress.org catalogue races by state.  Check several sites like these because they sometimes have different information.