Television remains the best medium for watching election results -- particularly for on-the-spot analysis and for the results' significance. And blogs are a great place to catch immediate reactions from your favorite writers.
But news organizations' web sites are playing a growing role in Campaign 2008. And starting 7 pm Eastern time when the polls on the East Coast start closing, they'll be abuzz with news updates, commentary, live video reports and blogging.
Here's a quick run-down on some of the cool features on the Web that are tracking today's events:
MTV's Choose or Lose site has a map that links to its reporters who are roaming around polling places all over the country with their mobile video devices. It's an interesting feature that is fun to check in with from time to time throughout the day to get a sense of the day's activities.
The New York Times' election guide is probably the most comprehensive on the web, with election results previews, slide shows, delegate explainers, polling place photos from its readers, news stories and live bloggingall clearly laid out and tied together. "We'll also have a giant results module on the homepage of the site that will let readers get a quick hit of what's going on throughout the night," says Lisa Tozzi, the New York Times' assistant politics editor.
The* Times'* political blog, The Caucus is also soliciting reader commentary, and *New York Times *reporters have a "huge" audio project, similar to what it did after the Florida primary, planned for the evening, says Tozzi. The Times has reporters staked out in all 22 states, and will be recording interviews with voters, which will be uploaded to the web.
MSNBC has live video on its web site, and a candidate issue and a leader board widgetthat keeps online audiences up to date with each canddiates' delegate count.
The best aspect of MSNBC's coverage is political director Chuck Todd's commentary, which always provides insights into the election as it happens. MSNBC also has an interactive map that will be updated with election results as they come in.Meanwhile,ABC Newsis continuing with its polling on Facebook, and the Facebook community continues to chime in their their thoughts with its Soundboard application. Currently, 42 percent of almost
3,000 people on Facebook say that the economy is the top issueon their minds as they head to the polls.ABC News' web sitefeatures an extremely cool widget that allows you to customize election results by candidate, date, stateand overall delegatescorecardso far in the race. The site will also provide exit poll analysis, and will include overall breakdown of vote preferences, state-by-state commentary, and wraps of both Republican and Democratic results. The site has an interactive map that provides state-by-state primary snapsots. The not-so-cool feature is its streaming video feature, which requires you to install a player on your computer. The site promises, however, that there won't be any stalling or buffering.
While you're waiting around for the results, you can take the Match-o-Matic quiz at ABC News' site and see if you made the right choice at the voting booth today. And educate yourself on the politics of delegate counting with the political unit's Super Tuesday cheat-sheet.
If you're traveling and want to stay updated, the Washingon Post has set up mobile phone election results alerts, and the political unit of ABC News has a special election results page set up for mobile devices.
WashingtonPost.com will feature "Inside Super Tuesday" videoof its star reporters and columnists online starting at 6 pm Eastern time. The *Post *has a great map that illustrates the strategic significance of the various regions of the country to the candidates. It also has poll closing times, in case you haven't voted yet.
YouTube has set up a special Super Tuesday channelthat features voter-generated video. Barely Politicalalready has a Super Tuesday Obama rap video up. (Obama Girl's gotten together with the Political Pizza man!!!!! )
If you're following any websites, blogs, map mashups or Twitter feeds today that aren't on this list, drop me a line.
