The presidential election daily receives a more than overwhelming amount of airtime on the daily news shows and in print, but unless you live in one of the "battleground" states, your vote for the president may not matter much. The votes that will definitely count are those at the local level. If you don’t know who your local representatives are, now is the time to brush up.Who is running on the Green party line for state assembly? Who is running as a socialist for State senator?

You can get some good info on who is running at Project Vote-Smart.org. Drill down on the issues and (if they have ever responded to a survey) you can read their responses on how they intend to vote. You can check their voting record (if they have one) and investigate their political leanings.

OpenSecrets.org will help you understand how the money is being spent to get your attention, who is spending it and (if you believe that more money will generally get you elected) see who has a better chance to win. If you see your guy (or girl) is underfunded, maybe you’ll decide to make a contribution.

Find links to the above mentioned sites in the links section at right (or use the "links exchange" link at the top of the page under the ‘Politics’ section).