2008 Campaign Event Map - Joe Biden

The following map highlights the counties that Joe Biden held a campaign event during the general election campaign. A campaign event is an event which is open to the public and announced in advance. For example, Joe Biden making a surprise visit to a local factory is not counted as a campaign event; a rally, town hall, speech or other official campaign event is counted.

Biden had 96 campaign events in 83 counties, and 20 states. Biden won 58 out of the 83 counties in which he visited (70%).

Note: In Virginia, unlike other states, is organized into both independent cities and counties. In order for campaign visits to be visible, I highlighted the surrounding county around the city which was visited.

2008 Campaign Event Map - Barack Obama

The following map highlights the counties that Barack Obama held a campaign event during the general election campaign. A campaign event is an event which is open to the public and announced in advance. For example, Barack Obama making a surprise visit to a diner is not counted as a campaign event; a rally, town hall, speech or other official campaign event is counted.

Obama had 166 campaign events in 110 counties, and 22 states. Obama won 84 of the 110 counties which he visited (76%).

Note: In Virginia, unlike other states, is organized into both independent cities and counties. In order for campaign visits to be visible, I highlighted the surrounding county around the city which was visited.

Current US House Map (by State Delegation)

The following map shows the current party breakdown of the United States House of Representatives from each state. States colored red have more Republican representatives in the House than Democratic representatives. States colored blue have more Democratic representatives in the House than Republican representatives. The current breakdown of state delegations is that there are 16 states have a Republican majority in their delegation, 33 states have a Democratic majority in their delegation, and 1 state (Idaho) has an even split between both parties. Some states (7 states) only have 1 representative, those states are the following:

States with only 1 House member

Alaska (Republican)
Montana (Republican)

Wyoming (Republican)

North Dakota (Democrat)

South Dakota (Democrat)

Delaware (Republican)

Vermont (Democrat)

Analysis

This map is slightly deceiving because of the 7 states that only have 1 House member each. Although even those 7 states are interesting in that North and South Dakota are both represented by a Democrat, which is notable because neither of these states have been competitive in Presidential elections (with the exception of 2008). It is also notable that Delaware is represented by a Republican, when the surrounding area is primarily represented by Democrats. Of the states that have more than 1 house member, there are not very many surprises in the map, however there are some. One of those surprises is Mississippi, which is the only state in the deep south (besides Arkansas, which has a long history of a strong Democratic party) that has a majority Democratic delegation. While MS only has 4 representatives, the fact that 3 of them are Democrats is quite an achievement. It may be striking for some that Arkansas and Tennessee are colored blue, but it is important to point out that most of the Democrats in the south are moderate Democrats, which is why they are able to represent such conservative areas.

Current Governorships Map

The following map is of the current Governors of the 50 States. States colored blue have Democratic governors. States colored red have Republican governors. This map is current as of November 20, 2009.

Analysis

The most notable thing about this map is that no region is completely dominated by either party. The south (depending on how you define the south) still has Democratic governors, in Tennessee, North Carolina and Arkansas. Even in the northeast, where there are few Republicans elected for federal office, there are still Republican governors, in Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The significance of this map is that it proves that even if a political party has no chance of winning in Presidential races, or even congressional races, they may still be competitive in gubernatorial races.

2008 Presidential Election Results by County - Margin of Victory Map

The following map shows all of the counties in the United States. Counties colored dark blue were won by Barack Obama by at least a 10% margin. Counties colored light blue were won by Barack Obama by less than 10%. Counties colored dark red were won by John McCain by at least a 10% margin. Counties colored pink were won by John McCain by less than 10%.

Analysis
Several things are notable about this map. One of the most apparent, and least surprising, is that most of the close counties (those colored light blue or pink) were in either rural areas or were suburbs of landslide counties (those colored dark blue or dark red). This is most obvious in the midwest, especially in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. In those states there were a lot of rural and suburban counties that either went narrowly to Obama or narrowly to McCain. It is not surprising that suburbs were battlegrounds in this election because they have been battlegrounds in past elections as well. The suburbs of major cities are very important for a candidate to win because of the large number of people that live there. The suburbs of the following cities were battleground areas: Denver, Albuquerque, Portland (Oregon), Minneapolis, Kansas City, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Toledo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Houston, Atlanta, Raleigh, Virginia Beach.

Current U.S. Senate Map

The following map shows the party affiliation of all 100 Senators. This map is current as of July 20, 2009. States colored Blue have 2 Democratic Senators (or 2 Senators who caucus with the Democrats, in the case of Connecticut and Vermont). States colored Red have 2 Republican Senators. States colored Purple have 1 Democratic and 1 Republican Senator.

There are 59 Democratic Senators and 41 Republican Senators.

Analysis

While it has been widely noted that since Democrats had 60 seats in the Senate, and had a filibuster-proof majority. This changed after the Massachusetts special senate election in January 2010, where the Republican won. In theory, that is correct, however it is important to remember that not every member of either the Democratic party or the Republican party is always going to vote in unison with their party. For example, many of the Democratic Senators that make up that total of 60 are moderate Democrats, who represent more conservative states than other Democratic Senators. In my opinion, while it may seem as though Democrats should be able to accomplish whatever they want (due to their 59-seat majority), that is not the case. In fact, moderate Democrats (and moderate Republicans) actually hold the power in the U.S. Senate.

An interesting thing about the map is that most of the purple states are also battleground states in Presidential Elections.

2008 Presidential Election Results Map

The following is a map of the United States. States colored blue were won by Barack Obama and states colored Red were won by John McCain.

Barack Obama won 28 states and DC (365 Electoral Votes), John McCain won 22 states (173 Electoral Votes). Note: Obama won one of Nebraska's 5 Electoral Votes because NE divides its electoral votes by congressional district, and Obama won the Omaha district.

On June 21, 2008, I had posted on this blog my analysis of how the states would vote in the general election (My Electoral College Outlook). As election day got closer, the map changed. What I find most interesting is that I had put Indiana and North Carolina in the Solid Republican category, on election day both of these states voted for Obama (narrowly).

2008 Presidential Election Results by County

The following is a map of all counties in the United States. Counties colored blue were won by Barack Obama and counties colored Red were won by John McCain.

Analysis

There are several notable aspects to this map. One of the most striking is the solid blue that covers all of the northeast, except for one county in Maine. It is also worth mentioning the solid blue along the border between Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. This (mostly rural) area was usually divided, rather than all counties going to one party. Republicans made progress in Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Kentucky. The black belt (which stretches from the Arkansas border with Mississippi to the Virginia Beach area) remained largely intact for the Democrats.