50 Best Websites 2007

Want to follow the money in politics? OpenSecrets offers a detailed picture of who gives and who gets, by industry, organization or candidate. You can chart two candidates' fund-raising activities on the "week-by-week comparison" page, or read through the individual profiles. The database goes back 10 years, and covers everyone who ran, or is running, for President, Congress or the Senate. You can plug in your ZIP code to find out which candidates raised the most money in your locale, and who in your neighborhood wrote the biggest checks. (The data is public information gleaned from the FEC reports.) The Big Picture section helps make sense of it all. The site is run by the Center for Responsive Politics. Congressional Quarterly's PoliticalMoneyLine.com also tracks funds raised by each of the 2008 presidential hopefuls.