WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - Feb 28, 2012) - GOVERNING today announced the launch of the GOVERNING 2012 Election Center at www.governing.com/election.
"The Election Center is a one-stop delivery for state and local election news and the kind of insightful analysis that GOVERNING is known for," says GOVERNING.com editor Kathy A. Gambrell.
GOVERNING was founded 25 years ago as the first publication to focus exclusively on state and local government, and the focus of the new site, Gambrell says, reflects that unique mission and perspective, delivering the most up-to-date news, analysis and polling together with useful data visualization tools. The Election Center is one of several new initiatives that GOVERNING has launched to better serve its audience of state and local government leaders.
Said GOVERNING Publisher Fred Kuhn, "As more decision-making and spending power is pushed to states and localities, it's more important than ever to monitor what's happening at the state and local level. Having a majority of seats in play in a year when so many states have newly-drawn districts makes for a lot of news, and we're covering it -- up to Election Day and beyond."
The GOVERNING 2012 Election Center includes:
Targeted News Coverage and Analysis
The Election Center features the top state and local election news headlines together with in-depth analysis from GOVERNING's team of reporters and correspondents, including Elaine S. Povich and Lou Jacobson. Stories on the site at launch include Lou Jacobson's story on Previewing the 2012 Governors' Races, a story on Iowa Redistricting and another on the special election in Arizona to fill Gifford's seat.
Data, Interactive Analysis Tools
One unique feature of the GOVERNING 2012 Election Center is its rich integration of data. A red-and-blue map of the U.S. features a dropdown menu that allows users to reconfigure the map to illustrate political majorities at the state house, state senate, and gubernatorial levels. Clicking on a specific state generates a quick summary of key information, including the governor's term expiration and the number of vacant legislative seats together with data and graphs showing party breakdown within each chamber. Additional tiers of data and visualization tools will be added over the coming months.
Polling: What State and Local Government Leaders Think
Some of the research featured on the Election Center is the result of another new initiative, GOVERNING EXCHANGE, an invitation-only online community created by GOVERNING's research arm. The site taps GOVERNING's Leadership audience to profile what state and local government leaders think. At launch, the Election Center included responses from a sample of 312 senior-level state and local officials on a number of topics, including the fiscal condition of their respective jurisdictions in 2012.
Future Plans for the Site
Over time, the site will expand to include more coverage of elections at the city, county and municipal levels; more state and local leadership polling and research content, and even greater data functionality. "It's already the GOVERNING site where visitors stay the longest, there's just so much fascinating information here. We'll continue to expand the site's reach and usefulness," said Gambrell.
About GOVERNING:
For 25 years, GOVERNING in the States and Localities has provided independent, nonpartisan coverage of state and local government.
GOVERNING is a division of e.Republic, the nation's leading publishing, research and new media company focused on state and local government and education.