below, release from ABC News..
otus (o-tus) noun: 1. Of the United States; 2: As in President of the United States

NEW YORK, NY, December 10, 2011 - All eyes are on the early voting states as the nation gears up for the 2012 presidential election and ABC News takes you into the action with the launch of OTUS News as the interactive destination for politics.

OTUS NEWS features the trusted political reporting and analysis of ABC News and invites users into the American political process with groundbreaking technology, engaging video, and immersive interactive experiences. The site will be launched in beta format.

OTUS' innovative Political Stock Market a real-time snapshot of social sentiment, trending, search and the collective assessment of our political experts combined to determine the current 'value' of each 2012 presidential contender. It's political punditry with a sophisticated dash of social media - a new way to measure who's up & who's down in a tumultuous campaign.

"OTUSNews.com takes the industry-leading and trusted assets of ABC News to the next level - adding new products such as the Political Stock Market, creative video series and greater depth and access in our coverage to meet the growing needs of our audience," said Joe Ruffolo, Senior Vice President, ABC News Digital.

LIVE SITE: http://abcnews.go.com/politics/otus

VIDEO: Jake Tapper Tours OTUS News: http://abcn.ws/s67mLk

ABOUT The Political Stock Market: http://abcn.ws/vzeWMo

PHOTO of WEBSITE: http://abcnews.go.com/images/Site/abc_otus_news_main_111216_custom.jpg

Hot Features @ Launch:

· Political Stock Market: Breakthrough technology combines the collective analysis of our political experts at ABC News and social sentiment from publicly available Facebook & Twitter comments, search, trending, and influencer data compiled and weighted in collaboration with Bluefin Labs. The market is open 7am-7pm ET, Monday-Friday, and is always visible at http://otusnews.com.

· Match-o-Matic: Engaging, playful yet informative interactive challenges users to answer a series of policy questions on subjects ranging from the economy & jobs to security & health care to find their top three political candidate matches in the 2012 field

· Game Changers: It's not your traditional Map to 270. Pick the Republican contender you'd like to take on President Obama and game out the path to the victory. Or, go back in time and play a fantasy match-up, pitting any presidential contender since 1960 against another. Obama '08 v. Reagan '84. Nixon '72 v. Kennedy '60. What's your Hall of Fame Game?

· Original Digital Video: Politics in a Flash delivers the latest political news from the trail & Washington - Now I Get It explains politics terms and concepts in animated, :90 infographics - Candidates in :60 is a constantly updated, fast-forward review of each candidate's life & career to-date, and Politically Foul reviews the not-top-plays of the week or the moments the campaigns would rather forget

· Daily Features: By The Numbers highlights a symbolic number, why it's critical to the country, and what it might mean for our politics , Thrill of Victory, Agony of Defeat captures the good, bad and ugly moments from the campaign trail, Political Wisdom brings out the best quotes of the current contest and politics past, The Scorecard scrolls the best, constantly updating ABC News politics content, all in addition to unique photojournalism, interactive votes, and ABC News' political all-stars including George Stephanopoulos, Jake Tapper, John Berman, Jonathan Karl, Amy Walter & Rick Klein

About ABC News

ABC News delivers a big picture understanding of the world to empower and inspire viewers to make confident decisions for themselves and their families. More people get their news from ABC News than from any other source. ABC News is responsible for all of the ABC Television Network's news programming on a variety of platforms: television, radio, and the Internet. With an average television and radio audience of 180 million people in a given month, ABC News surpasses the competition. More than 2,400 affiliate stations broadcast ABC News Radio's global news coverage. In addition, ABC News NOW is a 24-hour news and information network currently available to 44 million users across cable, broadband, and mobile platforms. NewsOne, the affiliate news service of ABC News, provides live and packaged news, sports, and weather reports, as well as footage of news events, to 200 ABC affiliates and more than 30 domestic and international clients. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/press-release/

Bluefin Labs

Bluefin Labs is a social TV analytics company providing solutions to brand advertisers, advertising agencies, and TV networks. Bluefin Labs' technology and data enable clients, for the first time, to tap into data at scale that links people's social media commentary to the shows and commercials they watch on TV. Grounded in 15 years of cognitive science and machine learning research at the MIT Media Lab, Bluefin Labs was founded by Deb Roy and Michael Fleischman in 2008 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more about Bluefin Labs, visit www.bluefinlabs.com.