Project:AdTracker

AdTracker is a free and open-source project on the OpenCongress Wiki to catalogue campaign ads in the 2010 elections and beyond. AdTracker is an independent and non-partisan public resource -- all ads here are cited to an outside source.

AdTracker can document television ads for any 2010 campaign for U.S. Congress (House and Senate) or governor. Here's how it works: site editors or anyone with a "My OpenCongress" account (free for everyone) can embed video of a campaign ad (in most cases, from YouTube) here on the wiki. It displays alongside granular details such as the sponsor of the ad, type of organization, politicians mentioned, and more. AdTracker's unique value is its ability to link specific ads back to specific sponsors (where possible, given disclosure), e.g. the Club for Growth, the Progressive Campaign Change Committee, or a candidate herself. To see an example, visit the pages for the contentious Senate races in Nevada, Kentucky and Arkansas.

Building an open public knowledge hub for ads is important, especially after the Supreme Court's unfortunate anti-transparency decision in Citizens United that the government may not restrict corporations and unions from spending an unlimited amount on airing political ads and that campaign committees need not disclose their funding sources in a timely &amp; detailed manner. AdTracker is built on the semantic MediaWiki platform, and all info is available as freely-licensed structured data to remix &amp; reuse. This resource grows in usefulness when you add what you've seen, so help us create transparency and accountability around the wave of TV spots in by this sharply partisan election cycle.

Select a state to see the ads


It's easy to add campaign ads

 * 1) Log-in or register to make edits. (See the top-right of the window.)
 * 2) Select a state above and then click the link for a specific congressional seat in the "Campaign ads" column.
 * 3) Click the "Edit with form" link at the top of the page and enter as many details of the ad as are available into the easy-to-use form.
 * 4) Hit "save page" at the bottom of the page.
 * 5) Help spread the word by sharing the permalink to the ad you submitted with your friends. Encourage bloggers to link to the campaign page!

Get in touch
If you'd like all our data, would like to pitch-in, or need help, please email [mailto:conor@opencongress.org conor@opencongress.org]