Millions of Americans use Wikipedia as their primary source of information about politicians. The user-edited encyclopedia comes up as the first or second search result for every candidate for the Republican nomination, and in most respects provides a very thorough and accurate profile of their lives and careers.

Wikipedia preserves every version of an article ever published, so it's possible to watch the evolution of a page over time. While all four major candidates were well known before the primary began, editors have continued to finesse their biographies and quarrel over their records. The following interactive graphic tells the story of the Wikipedia pages for Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul since the fight for the nomination began.

By Chris Wilson