Wired & MapLight Launch Influence Tracker Widget to Show Who's Funding Congressional and Presidential Races
Widgets are Embeddable on Media Sites and Blogs; Reveal Each Candidate's Top Ten Contributors and Ranking as a Fundraiser; FEC Data Updates Weekly
Oct. 17, 2012—Wired and MapLight have joined forces to create an Influence Tracker Widget to help citizens follow the money behind candidates in presidental and congressional races. The widget features candidates' total contributions, a list of their top ten donors, their ranking as a fundraiser within the office they seek, and their ranking overall among candidates running at the federal level. Corporate logos of lawmakers' top contributors are displayed virtually on the business suits in a NASCAR sponsor fashion.
"Corporate influence in politics has gone off the charts, and it's more important than ever for voters to understand who is financing candidates," said Evan Hansen, Wired.com's editor in chief. "MapLight has done the hard work of compiling the data. At Wired, we're happy to help get that information out to the wider public and share it as broadly as possible with this Web-based embeddable widget."
Citizens, bloggers, and media sites can customize the widgets for the presidential race or track the money race between candidates in the House and Senate races in their state:
Elizabeth Warren Influence Tracker Widget
Scott Brown Influence Tracker Widget
“In just a few weeks, voters will confront a ballot filled with candidates whose campaigns have been paid for by wealthy donors. People deserve to know the truth about whose interests their candidates are really representing,” said Daniel G. Newman, MapLight's president and co-founder. “We’re proud to work with Wired to give voters a tool they can use to draw back the curtain on the moneyed influence plaguing our political system.”
Get your own Influence Tracker Widget here.
Barack Obama Influence Tracker Widget:
Mitt Romney Influence Tracker Widget:
Data Source: Federal Election Commission.
A link to this press release can be found here.
MapLight is nonpartisan political money tracker.
About WIRED:
WIRED is the first word on how ideas and innovation are changing the world. Each month in the magazine and every day online, our editors deliver a glimpse into the future of business, culture, innovation, and science. AdWeek named WIRED to its 2011 Hot List and made WIRED its first-ever “Magazine of the Decade” in 2010. It was named to Advertising Age’s A-List in 2010, received three National Magazine Awards for general excellence in 2005, 2007, and 2009, and was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Magazine of the Year in 2011. Wired.com was named 2009’s Best Magazine Website by AdWeek, Best News, Business & Finance Website in 2009 by MPA Digital, and was a 2011 National Magazine Award for Digital Media “General Excellence” finalist. WIRED and Wired.com reach more than 14 million readers each month.
Media Contact:
Pamela Behrsin
c: 415-299-0898 | e: pamela@maplight.org | t: @imonlyabill
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