Responding to feedback from users, the Illinois State Board of Elections debuted a new website today, making it easier for people to thumb through the massive information database housed by the agency.
“Our challenge was to organize and present a mountain of elections-related data quickly and sensibly. We think we’ve met this challenge with our new website," said Board of Elections director Dan White in a statement.
The site is splashier and better organized than its predecessor, customizing search options for different groups, including voters, candidates, committees, reporters, businesses and more. Read more...
NBC5 has a new site centering on politics - specifically nine local politicians - that has potential. The Ward Room blog features commentary by Edward McClelland and cartoons by Pulitzer-Prize winner Jack Higgins.
The site promises to cover these characters (or caricatures?) for a fun perspective on the most greasy of mechanisms, Chicago politics:
At its oily, pistoning machine core, Chicago's levers are pulled by political personalities -- hardscrabble aldermen grasping for favors and influence; crisp-collared, would-be senators criss-crossing the state and the airwaves; an accidental statesman cavorting around Springfield; and, hunkered in his windowless Woodshed on five, a grim-lipped authoritarian making it all run as smoothly as possible. Read more...
There's no denying that the new Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, Alexi Giannoulias, is a handsome young man.
So handsome, in fact, that one of the top Google searches for him is "Giannoulias girlfriend," which we attributed to rabid love interest from the single ladies.
Alas. Read more...
The shout quickly became notorious — and worth millions.
Last year, when U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson yelled “you lie!” during President Barack Obama’s speech on health care, even Wilson’s fellow Republicans scolded him. The episode went down as one of the lowest political points of 2008.
But Wilson’s outburst sent him soaring financially. Using Google ads, his campaign amassed more than $2 million in less than three weeks. Read more...
Update: Alexi Giannoulias' fiancee is longtime girlfriend Tara Flocco, a public-affairs staffer at Edelman and philanthropist with the Chicago Children's Choir. Hat tip to Slats Lonigan on Twitter (@chitownpolitics) for the link.
Original post: What do Google searchers want to know about state Treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias?
Is it his platform? His endorsements? His take on the latest scuffle between Gov. Pat Quinn and rival Dan Hynes? Read more...
