Richard Kimball wrote today to say that Project Vote Smart’s Voter Self Defense “Manual” is complete. He thanked seven different people and organizations for our ideas and for helping make it happen. But in fact, it’s the tens of millions of Americans who use this site who should be thanking him and Vote Smart’s remarkable staff and volunteers for what they have created.

Usage of the site has exploded. It gets as many as 7 million hits a day (you read that right, that’s hits per day) — a 2300% increase over any other election year first quarter. Their estimate is that will get some 30 million hits by the election’s end. Cite those stats to people who pooh-pooh American’s interest in politics.

One hundred and fifty-four organizations, Clear Channel, LA Times, Gannet News Service, Dish Network among others are using their APIs to enrich their own reporting. (Sunlight modestly helped Vote Smart’s able technologists in this arena.)  Vote Smart aggressively developed their APIs because of the core desire to give everythin g they have to anyone might be able to use it, multiplying their work many-fold. Theory proven right.

Many kudos Vote Smart friends. Job well begun! (The job is never done…)