Explore companies, lawmakers and prominent individuals that matter to you and see how they're influencing the political system

What's New

Updated information about comments that organizations submit to influence the federal rulemaking process—a lesser-known way for organizations to influence government decisions—has been added to organization pages on Influence Explorer.

The information gives insight into how laws are formed in this country, and whose opinions are heard by the people who shape those laws.

This data originates at Regulations.gov, but comes to Influence Explorer from the Sunlight Foundation's Docket Wrench.

During the last election cycle, Influence Explorer added regularly updated campaign finance data straight from the Federal Election Commission. This raw data allows users to access up to date fundraising information for all federal candidates. (The FEC releases data within one week of the candidate filing.)

At this stage in the 2014 campaign cycle, the data will serve people interested in special elections around the country and will be ready for analysis when the next election heats up.

Standardized campaign finance data from the Center for Responsive Politics is also still available to view and/or download for all federal candidates.

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    regularly updated news and analysis using Influence Explorer

    Datafest: 'Amazing things can happen in a very short time'

    The regression analysis, data visualization and computationally driven sound effects were definitely different. Still, there was much about the weekend's bicoastal datafest that made a newsroom veteran feel right at home: the room full of bleary-eyed obsessives, the wrinkled piles of notes, clothes and discarded potato chip bags, and yes, the bouquet of stale bagels and flop sweat as deadline approached.

    Something new and hopeful for journalism emerged from the storied room on the Columbia University campus where the Pulitzer Prizes are annually juried, and on Sunday six judges deliberated over datafest entries. Along with counterparts at Stanford University, they awarded $7,000 in prizes to teams that used data and technology to examine the influence of money in politics.

    Conceived by Teresa Bouza, the deputy Washington bureau chief of the global news agency EFE, the bicoastal datafest was administered by the Sunlight Foundation in partnership with the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, Columbia's journalism school, and Stanford's graduate program in journalism. Major funding for the event came from the MacArthur Foundation. The awards ceremonies held simultaneously in California and New York on Sunday culminated a 36-hour marathon in which teams worked on their projects while gleaning ...

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