SourceWatch:Project:Recording endorsements for 2008 congressional candidates

This participatory project was featured from October 31-November 13, 2007. You can help out by pitching in here or by checking out the other things you can do at the main "things you can do" page. Please contact the staff editors if you need any assistance.

Goal

The goal of this project is to find endorsements for each of the candidates running for U.S. Congress in 2008 that are profiled in Congresspedia. This is a way to make each candidate's profile more informative to voters in their districts and to others around the country who are interested in the race.

Before you start

Two quick tips before you begin:

1. Keep this page open. You'll be visiting a couple of Congresspedia pages and some external links, so it's best to right-click any links (or for Mac users, open-apple-click the link) to open them in a new window. That way, you can keep this window open to refer back to these instructions.
2. You need to be logged-in to edit (this prevents vandalism and spam), so if this is your fist time editing you'll need to go here to register.

How-to

1. Find your candidate If you know your candidate, you can find them listed on the Congresspedia state portal for your state, which you can select from the map here. Alternatively, go to the complete list of profiles and find your candidate. Clicking a candidate's name or picture will take you to their profile page. You can also find your House representative by clicking here, and returning to the state portal to find other candidates running for the seat.
2. First, check to see if there are endorsements already. Each profile page will have a "Bio" section, where you can check for endorsements.
3. Next, find some endorsements. If there are no endorsements on the profile page, that means you get to have all the fun! If someone beat you to it, don't worry: there's probably new endorsements for you to add. There are a few places to search:
   • Try going to their campaign website. You can probably find the campaign website listed on their Congresspedia profile (here's the complete list of candidate profiles, but you can also find them on the state portals) and if not there, try searching Google for the candidate's name.
     • Didn't find the campaign website listed on the candidate's Congresspedia profile? Why not go there and add it in? (It should probably go under "Contact").
   • I'm at the website, now what? Many candidates have a section or link on their website were they list endorsements. If you don't see a section like that, look under "News."
   • Speaking of news... Many local newspapers publish endorsements, so you can always check there. Just make sure there's a link you can source on Congresspedia.
   • Still got nothing? Try searching the Internet. You can also try a Google search
   • Keep in mind: You want to know that an endorsement is from a valid source, right? Keep an eye out for newspapers, local organizations and other elected officials that are supporting the candidate.
4. Note the name of the organization and copy the link to your source. Get back to the candidate's profile page, and navigate to the "Bio" section. You're going to make some changes on the page, so make sure you're registered (which is required to make edits in order to prevent vandalism, spam, etc. - see here for more info.) Click "[edit]" to post the endorsements.
   • There's no "endorsements" section? Creating a sub-section is easy to do. Just stick it under "2008 elections"
5. Include the endorsements you found.
   • You're going to make (or add to) a list. Create new sub-sections for national, state and local endorsements if required. Start each new endorsement with a star (*), and include the name of the organization or individual endorsing the candidate. You're going to want to create a link to the source, so follow the guidelines here or simply enclose the URL in single brackets([]) after the name.
6. That's it! Make sure to hit the "save page" below the editing window and write a few words about what you did in the "Summary" box above that button (in this case something like "added endorsement")

Example

To see what an endorsements section looks like, try Rep. Steve Young's profile page.

While you're at it

We just launched the congressional elections project and could really use your help in filling in these profiles (and those of the members of Congress). Everything you add is free for your fellow citizens to read and educate themselves with and the staff editors are here to help if you need any assistance. See the research guide to congressional candidates for more ideas.

Where to find endorsements

• J Street's 2008 congressional endorsements.
• Vote Vets' 2008 congressional endorsements.
• Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq's list of endorsees.