Yahoo!'s 2008 Political Dashboard

One interactive news site that presents information interactively that couldn't be done in print is Yahoo! News, which presents the electoral college map in its "Political Dashboard." The dashboard encourages users to take the map, which is pre-set with current poll data, and create their own scenarios as to how the election will play out.

Just for fun, it includes the scenarios drawn up by Arianna Huffington (which has Obama winning with 306 electoral votes) and Newt Gingrich (who says McCain will win with 300). In addition to the create-your-own-scenario interactivity, users can also view past maps for American elections dating back to 1988.

Patchwork Nation

Patchwork Nation on the Christian Science Monitor's website breaks down states counties and classifies them not only by the party for which they usually vote, but also by 11 categories (boom towns, evangelical epicenters, immigration nation, etc.). Each category has a profile with polling data, and CSM has bloggers reporting from a representative city in each category. There is no way that the CSM could use print or television media to pull this off; the nature of the Patchwork Nation makes it a non-linear report, meaning that television could not pull it off. And, the interactivity required in exploring the different traits of the various regions could not be done in a newspaper. Sure, CSM could print the map, but it loses so much without the rollover profiles and the instant access links to the category's blog, that it would not be anywhere near as complete.