The Race to 270: The Electoral College and the Campaign Strategies of 2000 and 2004

Extract

The Race to 270: The Electoral College and the Campaign Strategies of 2000 and 2004. By Daron R. Shaw. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. 216p. $50.00 cloth, $20.00 paper.

Part political memoir, part political science, this is a valuable book on presidential elections that should be read by consultants and academics alike. Drawing on his experience as a Bush strategist and a political science professor at the University of Texas, Daron Shaw argues that these two audiences could learn a great deal about what interests them by paying more careful attention to each other. This theme is woven throughout Shaw's consideration of Electoral College strategies, execution of those strategies, and their effect on American electorates. Though he has clear political predilections that may make Democratic readers occasionally bristle, his rigorous examination of the best data on presidential campaigns available to date keeps him squarely in the realm of political science. The end result is a book that provides irreplaceable insight on how campaigns might better function, on the subjects that political scientists could do a better job of exploring, and on the potential future of elections research.