How Barack Obama Won: A State-by-State Guide to the Historic 2008 Presidential Election (Vintage) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Sheldon Gawiser (Author)
Key Phrases: official vote totals, college educated voters, voting eligible population, African American, New Hampshire, North Carolina (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

From NBC's political director and elections director. Readers who pick this up for, say, a quick check of McCain's margin of victory in Montana will find themselves tempted to embark on a full cross-country trip through these pages. States here are divided into four categories: "Battleground States," "Receding Battleground States," "Emerging Battleground States," and "Red and Blue States" (not clear why that wasn't two separate lists). Entries are from two to five pages long, more for states in flux than the true Blue or Red ones, with a clear format of both textual and tabular information on the state's 2008 presidential choice, its party support in the past, and what to keep an eye on in future elections. A final section of tables analyzing the 2008 electorate is fascinating. For all interested readers.—MH
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Product Description

How Barack Obama Won—by one of the most lauded political journalists of our time, and one of the most respected pollsters in the business—gives us not only the inside state-by-state guide to how Obama achieved his victory, but also the essential toolbox for understanding the political implications of the 2008 presidential election—where the country stands vis-à-vis Red and Blue states, where it currently is and is headed politically, and whether a political realignment has taken place.

The book features an introduction by Chuck Todd, putting the 2008 presidential election in political and demographic perspective, even as it reveals national trends. The final electoral map will appear in the front matter, as will unexpected "fun facts." The book is divided into four parts, each of which proceeds alphabetically state by state: Battleground States (e.g., Colorado, Florida, Idaho); Emerging Battleground States (e.g., Arizona, Georgia, Montana); Receding Battleground States (e.g., Michigan, Pennsylvania); Red and Blue States (e.g., Idaho and Mississippi, California and New York).

The votes in each state for Obama and McCain are broken down by percentage according to gender, age, race, party, religious affiliation, education, household income, size of city, and according to views about the most important issue (the economy, terrorism, Iraq, energy, healthcare), the future of the economy (worried, not worried) and the war in Iraq (approve, disapprove). Comparative figures for the 2004 Bush–Kerry election are provided. Each state profile is comprised of a table of numbers—with crucial lines highlighted—and analysis. From the book's treasury of facts you will learn about:

First Time Voters: The ratio of first-time to previous voters was identical to the 2004 split. Eleven percent (11%) of the electorate voted for the first time in 2004 and 2008. In 2008 70% voted for Obama whereas in 2004 only 53% voted for Kerry.

White Voters: Obama won the white vote in 18 states and the District of Columbia: CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, IA, ME, MA, MI, MN, NH, NY, OR, RI, WA, WI and VT. Obama received less than 35% of the white vote in 13 states, with Louisiana (14%), Mississippi (11%) and Alabama (10%) picking up the rear.

The Bush Factor: With the exception of Missouri (which barely went to McCain), Obama won every state where Bush's approval rating was below 35% in the exit polls; he lost every state where Bush's approval rating was above 35%. Bush's approval rating was highest in Utah (47%), which supported McCain by a 29 point margin, and lowest in Washington,D.C. (8%), where McCain received only 7% of the vote.

Florida: Votes for McCain were 25,000 fewer than for Bush in 2004; Obama's exceeded Kerry's by 540,000.

Ohio: Votes for Obama were 34,000 fewer than for Kerry in 2004; McCain's, however, were 350,000 short of Bush's.

By the way, since 1928 there has not been a winning Republican presidential/vice-presidential ticket without a Bush or Nixon.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030747366X
• ISBN-13: 978-0307473660
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #54,876 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great For Political Numbers Junkies, January 17, 2009

By	Aaron "History grad student" (San Marcos, TX) - See all my reviews

If you're interested in the voting characteristics of the states, then you'll really like this book. Todd and Geiser give a pretty objective re-cap of the primary and general election campaigns in the introduction, and then go state-by-state, grouping them into "battlegrounds," "receding battlegrounds," "emerging battlegrounds," and "red/blue" states. Democrats will enjoy this more than Republicans, since the authors continually point out the demographic and ideological trends that are moving in the democrats favor. To their credit, though, they point out how this movement may be unique to this election or ultimately unsustainable, and does point out republican advantages in certain areas.

Mostly, the analysis is spot on, and they reveal some interesting characteristics and patterns that even a junkie like me didn't catch. Still, I have a couple issues with their analysis.

First, the youth vote. The authors say it was "overrated" for the most part and only made the difference in 2 states. They say this due to the fact that their turnout rate only increased by 1%, which didn't meet the inflated expectations of some. However, Obama won this vote by 66-32. No prior candidate, in the history of exit polling, EVER won any age cohort by such a large margin. The closest was Reagan in 1984, but by 20, not 34 points. Clearly, this indicates that republicans have some extremely serious problems with younger people that have only gotten worse since 2000. George W. Bush may have turned an entire generation away from his party.

Second, the 5 "emerging" battleground states. Georgia, Nebraska, and Texas don't belong here. If Obama couldn't win GA in this environment, there is little chance for democrats down the road. GA has been trending red the last decade. And Texas's status is that it "might" be a battleground in 10 years. Well, by that logic so might California, since political fortunes will certainly change in a decade.

Also, the authors are of the belief that the Republicans' problem is that their brand of conservatism no longer works well outside the south. They content that republicans must become more moderate to gain back footholds in the west, northeast, and midwest. I think this is questionable, since social issues like abortion and gay marriage were not really a part of the 2008 campaign, so it's impossible to judge whether or not such "moral values" were being rejected or not.

To me, it's more a problem with their marketing/branding techniques than their beliefs. Their essential messages of low taxes, low spending, smaller government, strong defense, and personal responsibility have all enjoyed popularity throughout America's history. It's just that they no longer know how to communicate this effectively.

Finally, in their descriptions of the campaign, the authors were far too generous in describing the effect of Sarah Palin as McCain's VP choice. Saying that she "stumbled" in some interviews is far too nice. She was incoherent. Then she became a polarizing figure. She may not have lost the election for McCain but she did not help one bit. Anywhere she might have helped were states McCain was already going to win.

There was a fairly large number of grammatical errors peppered throughout the book. Indicative of sloppy editing, but judging from the displays at the bookstore, it looks like publishers wanted to get a slew of Obama-themed books out for the inauguration.

Overall, though, a good book for a fair price. It's a quick read, and an excellent reference for political watchers. I recommend it.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise, Insightful Examination of `08 Presidential Campaign , January 10, 2009

By	K.G. (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

Todd and Gawiser provide a very insightful examination of the 2008 presidential campaign. The book includes two basic sections: an introduction which has overall analysis of the `08 primaries and general election, and the aforementioned state by state compilation of general election results. More than a post mortem on the historic campaign that just ended, the book includes many lessons for 2012 and the future of U.S. political party alignment.

Written by two noted "numbers guys", I expected the book might be a little dry, but was pleasantly surprised by how Todd and Gawiser were able to make the demographic and polling data they provide come alive with shrewd, sometimes even humorous, analysis. I especially enjoyed their tongue-in-cheek captions (such as "Greatest Side Show on Earth", "Georgia: A Battleground on My Mind"). There's also lots of really interesting tidbits of inside information from the campaigns sprinkled throughout. Overall, How Barack Obama Won is a terrific read for anyone interested in politics.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The intriguing details, January 10, 2009

By	LK (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

If you paid attention to Chuck Todd during the primaries and general election, as you well should have, many of the notions in his and Gawiser's book will sound familiar. All of that is gathered here in one well-written, no-nonsense analysis that as usual, doesn't fail to fascinate. Even though we know the end result, you're sure to learn some aspects of the voting that may surprise you and where the conventional wisdom did and did not hold up.