The December conversation on kickstarting 2012 election coverage was rich with models to mimic, tools to try, ideas to explore and much more for any publisher striving to serve fresh and meaningful election coverage. We have pulled more than five dozen useful tidbits from that forum, organized around three major themes: editorial, collaboration, and moneymaking.

Click on the “in forum” link to see the resource listed in context of the larger conversation – layered in dozens of illuminating exchanges. To go deeper – reach out and connect with the community members who shared their knowledge.

As you check out this list, comment below to share with others what has worked for you or how you anticipate reporting election coverage this coming year.

As always, the JA welcomes ideas for resources to share. We’d love to hear your top picks, based on your experience, from this collection the community has offered for others to consider. And your ideas for other things you think should be added to this list.

Editorial

• Track campaign contributions with free data from the National Institute on Money and State Politics. State candidates too.
  — Suggested in forum by Laura Frank and Cole Goins.
• Go beyond the horserace; evaluate governance with data from the new State Integrity Investigation.
  — Suggested in forum by Michael Skoler and Michelle Powers Godfrey.
• Read the Nudge blog for brain fodder on how people make decisions, including political ones.
  — Suggested in forum by Aly Sneider.
• Understand influence tactics: See how Obama used group behavioral psychology to win in 2008.
  — Suggested in forum by Aly Sneider.
• Create your own election-related game for readers. PIN’s 2008 Select-A-Candidate is an example.
  — Suggested in forum by Andrew Haeg.
• Embed a link to VoteEasy, a highly interactive API that helps readers find current national candidates who share their views.
  — Suggested in forum by Project Vote Smart.
• Add a simple search-for-candidates widget to your site.
  — Suggested in forum by Project Vote Smart.
• Integrate a wide menu of candidate data into your custom applications using these APIs.
  — Suggested in forum by Project Vote Smart.
• Stay across key votes in Congress or your state legislature with this RSS feed.
  — Suggested in forum by Project Vote Smart.
• Tell readers about the Voter’s Self-Defense Manual, a booklet of Congressional members’ voting records and money info.
  — Suggested in forum by Project Vote Smart.
• Call 1-888-Vote-Smart or email media (at) votesmart.org for free, non-partisan candidate research for reporters.
  — Suggested in forum by Project Vote Smart.
• Analyze campaign literature coming in the mail, using this article as a starting point.
  — Suggested in forum by Jeff Lennan.
• Offer evaluation of candidate claims by bringing Politifact’s Truth-O-Meter to your site. Widgets or RSS.
  — Suggested in forum by Mary Turck.
• Look for (or create!) a local-level resource on candidate and lobbyist spending like the Virginia Public Access Project.
  — Suggested in forum by Frank Muraca.
• Try Tumblr to create quick-hit, multimedia election coverage.
  — Suggested in forum by Andrew Haeg.
• Use CoveritLive on election night to draw in a wide range of information and views.
  — Suggested in forum by Mark Glaser and Anne Galloway.
• Design your election page to be deep but simple.
  — Suggested in forum by Anne Galloway.
• Report on judicial races like never before with this state-by-state guide to rules, recall, and campaign contributions.
  — Suggested in forum by Project Vote Smart.
• Track the impact of partisan networking tools, such as this one for Tea Party supporters. Or use them to find activists.
  — Suggested in forum by Ted Han.
• Check out the White House’s “We The People” petition site for ideas suggested or supported in your area.
  — Suggested in forum by Thomas J. Lee.
• Use Sunlight’s Campaign Ad Monitor to check responses to local ads. Or to get readers involved in ad monitoring.
  — Suggested in forum by Cole Goins.
• Get ideas from this 2010 Center for Public Integrity work to track campaign tricks through crowdsourcing.
  — Suggested in forum by Cole Goins.
• Learn the rich possibilities of Influence Explorer and Politiwidgets from Sunlight Labs. Run your own articles through Poligraft, then post.
  — Suggested in forum by Thomas J. Lee.
• Paint the big money picture with help from another Sunlight tool.
  — Suggested in forum by Thomas J. Lee.
• Figure out what’s missing in election coverage, then dive in.
  — Suggested in forum by Andrew Haeg.
• Challenge yourself to beat Charlottesville Tomorrow’s list of election related content, events, and products.
  — Suggested in forum by Brian Wheeler.
• Enrich reporting with free data like past election results, voter registrations, and the 2010 Census.
  — Suggested in forum by David Herzog.

Collaboration

• Gather community contributions to stories using MediaWiki.
  — Suggested in forum by Frank Muraca.
• Solicit questions for an article or candidate forum with Google Moderator.
  — Suggested in forum by Brian Wheeler.
• Use the Public Insight Network to organize a network of people glad to offer their experience and expertise to coverage.
  — Suggested in forum by Andrew Haeg and Laura Frank.
• Build your own crowdsourcing query based on a Public Insight Network sample form.
  — Suggested in forum by Andrew Haeg.
• Try this query and compare your results to this story. And explore different ways to get your question widely distributed.
  — Suggested in forum by Cole Goins.
• Get a scoop on candidates’ unknown positions by publicly supporting this Political Courage Test.
  — Suggested in forum by Project Vote Smart.
• Try creating a community election coverage space using Posterous.
  — Suggested in forum by Andrew Haeg.
• Draw on social media for election insight; chronicle with Storify.
  — Suggested in forum by Andrew Haeg.
• Manage your community relationships (for information or fundraising) with a CRM tool such as Convio, iContact or MS Access.
  — Mentioned in forum by Brian Wheeler.
• Bookmark this elections ideas guide compiled by community engagement expert Joy Mayer.
  — Suggested in forum by Joy Mayer.
• Consider the potential for election coverage within existing partnerships.
  — Thoughts on this in the forum by Bob Payne and Teresa Wippel.
• Use these questions to evaluate any collaboration. Samples: How much time will it take? How much money might it make? Will it help the community?
  — Suggested in forum by Teresa Wippel.
• Check out more collaboration tips, also earned from experience. Such as: Don’t leave things to chance, think through each detail.
  — Suggested in forum by Evelyn Larrubia.
• Go into collaborations with an honest assessment of the challenges and stay flexible.
  — Suggested in forum by Trevor Aaronson.
• Follow the collaboration template created by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting for this story.
  — Suggested in forum by Trevor Aaronson.
• Think about what community collaborators gain from experience with these good questions.
  — Suggested in forum by Ted Han.
• Consider how to replicate the “super low tech” but highly clear process of communication with contributors on Andrew Sullivan’s blog.
  — Suggested in forum by Ted Han.
• Join with Jay Rosen and The Guardian to change the arc of election coverage.
  — Suggested in forum by Mary Turck and Jacob Caggiano.
• Brainstorm better media partnerships for election coverage with the Seattle Times editor in charge of a 50 site network.
  — Suggested in forum by Bob Payne.
• Tap into data already collected by local organizations; run your own analysis to parse important issues. Co-develop a tool.
  — Suggested in forum by Matthew Barry.
• Build support for your work and integrate social engagement tools to your site using a tool like NationBuilder.
  — Suggested in forum by Michelle Powers Godfrey.
• Note these sites that have been open to content sharing; and keep up with Canadian, European, and MindShift-ing journalism trends.
  — Suggested in forum by Mark Glaser.
• Measure audience engagement using these thoughtful criteria. Useful for editorial and financial considerations.
  — Suggested in forum by Breeze Richardson.
• Model special election coverage after the highly successful public media project “Dear Chicago.”
  — Suggested in forum by Breeze Richardson.
• Open your mind to all sorts of ways to connect with your community. Even coloring books.
  — Suggested in forum by Evelyn Larrubia.
• Show community members exactly what it takes to get involved.
  — Suggested in forum by Denise Cheng.
• Check in with the Piton Foundation about doing in your state what they did in Colorado.
  — Suggested in forum by Matthew Barry.
• Ask your readers what they want to know before voting, enlist local experts to create content and cut the dreck.
  — Suggested in forum by Mary Turck.
• Hire a community engagement manager to build your audience.
  — Suggested in forum by Brian Wheeler.
• Debrief the election over drinks with a mix of players and voters.
  — Suggested in forum by Brian Wheeler.
• Set up tables at polling stations to advertise yourself.
  — Suggested in forum by Brian Wheeler.

Money

• Borrow from the Sacramento Press model and create a local ad network.
  — Suggested in forum by Ben Ilfeld.
• Draw on Local Yokel’s experience to join with other hyperlocals to sell election ads for bigger races.
  — Suggested in forum by Dick O’Hare.
• Watch this network of local sites experiment with ad revenue models beyond the usual.
  — Suggested in forum by Cornelius Swart.
• Grab a copy of the J-Lab ethics guide, designed to help new media navigate ad/editorial issues.
  — Suggested in forum by Cornelius Swart.
• Consider the legal and ethical issues around accepting political ads. Ask your audience for input. Tell what you earn from ads.
  — Suggested in forum by Ben Ilfeld.
• Seek opportunities in election coverage to increase site participation. Translate that to advertisers.
  — Suggested in forum by Ben Ilfeld.
• Design your ad offerings so busy campaigns get a simple message – like “The Election Impact Package.”
  — Suggested in forum by Dick O’Hare.
• Figure out ways beyond ads to generate revenue.
  — Suggested in forum by Trevor Aaronson.