The latest edition of this biennial publication from CQ Press presents the results of the 2004 United States election cycle, significant for the 2004 general presidential election resulting in the re‐election of George W. Bush, as well as a general congressional election and gubernatorial elections in over ten states.
The twenty‐sixth edition of this classic reference work retains the general format and contents of earlier editions. A brief three‐page introduction analyzes the significance of results from the recent elections and provides extremely valuable detail regarding methodology and presentation of results. Summary statistical tables of voter turnout follow, along with results for presidential, gubernatorial, Senate and House elections and results of special elections. Results of presidential primary elections by state and party round out the summary of recent election results. Some historical context is provided for presidential elections, with tables depicting results of the popular vote by state for 1960‐2000 and US‐level statistics for the popular and Electoral College vote for 1920‐2004.
The majority of the text is devoted to 50 individual state chapters. Each chapter includes a summary of the current governor, senators and representatives, along with post‐Second World War votes for president, governor and senator for the state. Tables with county‐level breakdowns of results in presidential, gubernatorial and Senate elections follow, along with breakdowns of the vote by congressional district for the House of Representatives. These tables, as in the summary tables for the US, present results for the two major parties only, with an aggregate of votes for other candidates presented in the single “Other” category. A breakdown of votes cast for third‐party, independent and write‐in candidates, and primary election results for president, governor, Senate and House in the 2004 election year, conclude each section. Maps of counties, large cities and current congressional districts supplement the statistics.
As is obvious from the contents, this is an exhaustive and extensive compilation of US election results. Its strength lies in its inclusion of county and congressional‐district breakdowns of election results, and detailed statistics on third‐party candidates and gubernatorial elections. The compilation of these results into single tables is unique to this publication, and not easily replicated in other resources, print or electronic. The work is almost exclusively statistical, so those looking for analysis or even definitions of terms and explication of the peculiarities of the US electoral system will need to look elsewhere. This work will be most useful to libraries serving users with a need for this level of geographic detail. Others may find the very basic summaries (albeit organized by individual elected official) provided in works such as the Almanac of American Politics or the Office of the House of the Clerk, US House of Representatives (see http://clerk.house.gov/members/electionInfo/elections.html) sufficient.
