University of Michigan Documents Center
Tips on researching information at all levels of government

• Elections 2008
  University of Michigan mega-index to all things electoral from presidential/voter matching services to advertising, public opinion polls, and data sets on historic U.S. elections. Weekly tracks Congressional candidates not running for re-election. Links to election data provided by the 50 states. Key documents relating to policy issues. For public and academic use.
• Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities (National Intelligence Estimate)
  Report suggests that Iran halted its nuclear weapon program in 2003 as the result of international pressure. Believes Iran could still continue its weapons program in the future but it would not be ready before 2015. Released December 3, 2007.
• A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787-1825
  Original research by Philip Lampi of the American Antiquarian Society with digitization by Tufts University. Provides state, county and city election results for federal, state, and local officials, 1787-1825. You can search by combinations of states, candidates, office titles, and dates.
• Report of the Independent Commission on Security Forces in Iraq
  Known as the Jones report and presented to Congress in September 2007. Suggests there are steady improvements in the Iraqi military but the Iraqi police forces remain poor.
• Securing, Stabilizing and Rebuilding Iraq: Iraqi Government Has Not Met Most Legislative, Security, and Economic Benchmarks
  General Accountability Office Report 07-1195, released September 4, 2007. The Iraqi government has met three of the 18 benchmarks established by the U.S.: establishing security stations and committees around them to support Baghdad as well as establishing minority party rights. It has not met de-Baathification, oil revenue sharing, provincial election, and amnesty goals.
• OIG Report on CIA Accountability with Respect to the 9/11 Attacks
  Report found that neither the U.S. government nor CIA Director George Tenet had a comprehensive strategy for combatting Al-Qaeda prior to 9/11. Tenet did not use all of his authority against counterterrorism. However, he was successful in reorganizing the CIA and was fully engaged in counterterrorism efforts. Report written in June 2005 and declassified in August 2007.
• Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland
  Extract of July 2007 report suggests Al-Qaida is regrouping for another major attack on the United States. Chemical, biological or nuclear weapons could be used. Hezbollah could become involved if Iran perceives the U.S. is a threat. Part of the National Intelligence Estimate series.
• Trial of Saddam Hussein
  Very clear description of historical context, court procedures, indictment, and appellate decision by the Law Library of Congress. Includes related treaties, additional readings and web sites.
• Medical Assistance to Sub-Saharan Africa (High School Debate Topic)
  Rich resource on combatting infectious diseases, poverty, human rights violations, and corruption in Africa. Includes federal government budgetary commitments to foreign aid as well as health issues in the United States. The majority of annotations link to public access material from international agencies and federal government.
• Rising Prices at the Pump (New York Times)
  Graph showing cost of gasoline at the pump from 1918 to May 2007 in 2007 dollars. Links data to the Arab oil embargo, 9/11 and Iraq War. Published by the New York Times on May 24, 2007.
• Social Explorer
  Data base of Census tracts for every ten years since 1940 with population variables expressed as a percentage. Choose year and then variable. Zooming into an area reveals more detail, include tract number and street name. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and New York Times.
• Gonzales v. Carhart
  Supreme Court ruling of April 18, 2007 that the federal ban on partial birth abortion is constitutional.
• Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information
  Data includes district and school building data on student headcounts, free lunch eligibility, and dropout rates. School staffing surveys, school safety and expulsion data. Financial summaries include Bulletin 1011 (Analysis of Public School Revenues and Expenditures) and Bulletin 1014 (Michigan Public Schools Ranked by Select Financial Information). Most files in dbf format.
• Michigan State, County, City, and Minor Civil Division Population Counts, 1800-2000
  PDF pages extracted from Census Bureau publications providing population totals, 1800-2000. Data separated into two files, State/County and Minor Civil Division, and then arranged by date from earliest to most current. Original sources cited in each section
• Internet Crossroads in Social Science Data
  Over 825 extensively annotated links to databases, data sets, data archives and statistical reports on the web. Arranged by subject and searchable by keyword. Covers population, elections, labor, philantrophy, migration, public opinion, health, agriculture. Especially good at identifying foreign data sets and less-known institutional products.
• Khalid Shaikh Muhammed Combatant Status Review
  Exorcised transcript of meeting between military tribunal and suspected mastermind of 9/11 on March 10, 2007. Describes U.S. terrorism charges against him. Muhammed claims responsibility for numerous Al-Qaeda actions or plans, including 9/11 and assassination attempts. Makes corrections for the record.
• Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Use of National Security Letters
  FBI used the Patriot Act provisions to obtain private information on 56,000 people per year, half U.S. citizens. The activity was 22% underreported and sometimes abused. Report released on March 9, 2007
• Congress Votes Database
  Complete list of floor roll call votes in the House and Senate since the 102nd Congress, 1991. Sections for each Congress list House and Senate votes and votes by bill number. Links from the main listing for each Congress provide analyses of individual roll call outcomes by party, state, region, gender, boomer status and astrological sign. Overall for each Congress there are analyses of those votes with the widest and narrowest margins, late night votes, and members who missed the most votes. There is also a full list of members for each Congress with brief biographies, a list of their individual roll call votes and how they compared with GOP and Democratic opinion. Spanning all Congresses is an analysis of roll call votes for building designations, impeachments, nominations, speaker elections, treaties, and vice-presidential tiebreakers.
• CityTownInfo
  Detailed entries for 20,000 U.S. cities provide everything from area codes, time zones, latitude and longitude to ancestry of the population. Compares population, income, housing and crime to the state. Includes political contributions, lists of high schools, travel highlights, mortgage rates. Separate section for many of the cities with their most popular professions and corresponding annual salary ranges.
• Michigan's Defining Moment; Report of the Emergency Financial Advisory Panel
  Michigan financial crisis due to a combination of a weak economy (loss of manufacturing jobs), tax cuts, spending pressures, and inattention to government reform. State must invest in education and reform its tax structure, including possible tax increases. Bipartisan panel headed by former governors James Blanchard and William Milliken submitted report on February 2, 2007.
• Our Moment, Our Choice: Investing in Michigan's People
  State of the State address delivered by Governor Jennifer Granholm on February 6, 2007. Calls for investing in education and workers while restructuring revenue.
• 100 Years of U.S. Consumer Spending
  Detailed analysis by the BLS of consu