Rules concerning Campaign and Political Finance (Colorado Secretary of State)

Interested in Candidates at Federal, State and Local Level

USElections.com - Federal and State Candidates, includes party affiliation and link to web site, if available.

Loveland 912 Project Information page - Candidates

Interested in Information about Incumbents? - Interested on Voting Records of current members of congress, we suggest you search for "Congressional Ratings" with your favorite search engine or you can look at the suggestions below.

OpenCongress
On this link you can select a senator or representative (use Tabs at top of page)and get information on committee membership, bill sponsorship, voting record and much more. Open Congress is a free, open-source, not-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to help make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement.

VoteSmart
On this link (select "my state" from left sidebar)find biographical information, voting records, issue positions, and much more.The goal of this group is to strengthen the most essential component of democracy...access to information

GovTrack.us - A civic project to track U. S. Congress. Nice map showing congressional districts and pictures of our representatives. If you click on the link for a specific representative, you will get information about Bill Sponsorship, Voting Record, Money & Influence, and Committee Membership.

Colorado Union of Taxpayers (CUT) (information thru 2009)

A statewide-organization, CUT measures the voting record of legislators on his or her tax, spending or government intrusion votes. Year-to-year comparisons indicate that CUT is able to accurately measure whether a legislator favors lower taxes and less government, is a friend of the taxpayer or continues with higher spending and creating more government intrustion in our lives. At CUT site, scroll down and view "Congressional Ratings" in charts on left side of page.

There is a chart for ratings by the following groups:
National Taxpayers Union
Americans for Tax Reform (Congressional Ratings thru 110 Congress (2007)
Club for Growth (information on members of House of Representatives and U.S. Senate)

May 26, 2010 - added two more resources:

OpenSecrets.org - Center for Responsive Politics

OnTheIssues - Every Political Leader on Every Issue

Federal Level Resources

CongressMerge
On this link you can find information about congressional committees and subcommittees.
CongressMerge also supplies info about the congressional schedule.

THOMAS
This link will take you to the Library of Congress database with details on all bills

Congressional Budget Office

C-SPAN - information on current C-SPAN programs and archives

C-SPAN Video Library
Both the House and Senate sessions are recorded.
A Search function is available so you can enter the name of a senator or representative or an issue and get a list of video clips to watch.

U.S. Senate - United States Senate website

U.S. House of Representatives - United States House of Representatives website

State of Colorado Resources

State of Colorado Government Information
Information about elected officials

Colorado General Assembly - Home Page
You can find links on this page to Colorado House and Senate activity, Contact Information, general legislative resources, and more.

Colorado House and Senate Committee Information, you will find a list of committees - click on the committee link to get information about the committee, a list of committee members, meeting dates, and more.

House Committees of Reference Page - Gives a list of each house committee and committee members (including party affiliation - Democrat or Republican)

Senate Committees of Reference Page - Gives a list of each senate committee and committee members (including party affiliation - Democrat or Republican)

Constitution of the State of Colorado

Other resources to get information about Colorado State Legislative Activity

Face the State, "Colorado's Front Page"
Launched in March 2007, Face the State provides news for Coloradan interested in state and local politics.

Vetting activity/Questions to ask candidates

Eighteen Constitutional Questions to ask Candidates in 2010
Here are a few of the questions twelfth grade students have asked candidates who are running for public office. These young people can tell pretty quickly what kind of public officials they will make just by their answers.

101 Constitutional Questions to ask Candidates from National Center for Constitutional Studies

Independence Caucus - citizen's movement to take back government from "Big Money" interests groups. Our Mission: To find/elect fiscally sound candidates;help organize locally; educate people on current affairs; research money trails to every rep we can. Click here for ICaucus inteviews with Dan Maes (Candidate for Governor of Colorado), Steve Barton (Candidate for U.S. Senator), Cleve Tidwell (Candidate for U.S. Senator) and Tom Lucero (Candidate for 4th Congressional District).

Resources with ideas about Activist Training

1. American Majority - Activist Training

For your education

Blueprint: How the Democrats won Colorado (and why Republicans everywhere should care) by Rob Witwer and Adam Schrager published May 2010. Click here for a Review

Independence Caucus - videos about how and why our political system has been hijacked by "Big Money" and special interests.

A list of News Sources - find out what's in the news

Reporter Herald - Loveland, Colorado

Colorodoan - Fort Collins, Colorado

Denver Post - Denver, Colorado

New York Times

Time Magazine

Newsweek Magazine

US News & World Report

Wall Street Journal

Investor's Business Daily

Additional Voter Resources:

LARIMER COUNTY

Elections Info - How to register to Vote, Check your Registration Status

WELD COUNTY

Elections Info - How to register to Vote, Check your Registration Status

STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Secretary of State - Elections Center
click "Offices to be Filled - 2010 General Election"

Colorado Secretary of State - Elections Division

Colorado Interactive Maps and Demographic Data -
A resource of district information about the state of Colorado.

POLITICAL PARTIES

Information about Colorado Political Parties
American Constitution Party, Colorado Republican Party, Democratic Party of Colorado,
Green Party of Colorado, Libertarian Party of Colorado, Unity Party.

Larimer County Democratic Party
State of Colorado Democratic Party
The Democratic Party


Weld County Republican Party

Larimer County Republican Party
Caucus and Assembly Process Overview for Larimer County (PDF file)

State of Colorado Republican Party
The Republican National Committee (GOP)

Four Basic Principles of the Republican Party

Protect the rights of the individual.
Protect the free enterprise system.
Reduce government to the lowest practical level
Endorse and practice fiscal responsibility.