Every big media outlet has a guide to Super Tuesday, when 24 states hold their presidential primary or caucus. Problem is, who has time to read all of them?
Like any good blog, we’re here to save you time by alternatively dismissing and praising the hard work of real journalists. So here’s your guide to the guides:
Campaign strateges & polling data, on Slate
Slate rounds upeach candidate’s plan for the big day: Clinton seeks California, Obama seeks everything else, and Huckabee seeks God. (Or at least His voters.)
What’s amazing is the ground each candidate covers: Obama’s visited 16 states in the past week, or or the same number I’ve seen in a lifetime. And the money’s flowing too. Obama and Clinton now spend $1.5 million a day on ads. Think of the Chipotle! (To be precise: A quarter million burritos, or enough to feed half of Northwestern.)
The slickest compilation of national and state polls is also on Slate, in its horribly speculative, incredibly fun Election Scorecard. Of course, the stupidity of polling data brings you insight like this, on the California race:
Barack Obama is either surging into a tie with Hillary Clinton (Zogby, Rasmussen, Field) or still trailing (Mason-Dixon and ARG).
…in other words, we know nothing except that Obama’s not hypothetically leading! Unless he wins or something.
What’s up for grabs, on The New York Times
Elegant and stuffy, the Times crisply summarizes the political fortunes of Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, and Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Romney. It also helpfully charts each state’s potential delegates, ordering them by importance. I’m pleased to report that Illinois is No. 3… right after New Jersey. Oh well.
The colored circles that show how states award delegates are confusing; but when you realize “dark blue” means “winner-take-all,” and you see how the Republican schedule is very dark blue, you realize the brutality of tomorrow’s fight. (The Democratic side is a comparatively sunny orange, meaning more states award by district.)
Lame maps, on CNN, Washington Post & The Los Angeles Times
If you’re into red, blue and purple, CNN’s map of the Super Tuesday states offers color therapy and a refresher on American geography. The Washington Post has a similar map, but colored less helpfully. Same goes for The LA Times, whose fancy Flash gizmo tells you the number of delegates awarded… but not who got them.
The actual preview analysis on CNN is a big, ugly, truck-honkin’ list. On the positive, disembodied side, CNN’s floating candidate heads makes for a cute graphic on how many delegates each candidate already has in the bag.
Facts and oversimplifications of them
I couldn’t leave you on Super Tuesday Eve without actual facts about the candidates. FactCheck.org investigates what the candidates say more rigorously and transparently than anyone else, often within hours of when the claims are made.
But if you need just one image to tell you all you need to know, check out this graphic about Ron Paul vs. everyone else. It really can be that simple.