The Almanac of American Politics, 2006

by Richard E. Cohen and Michael Barone

Book Overview

American politics has devolved into a grim battle between two approximately equal-size armies in a take-no-prisoners culture war. In 2000, those armies fought to a near-draw--out of more than 100 million ballots cast, the presidency of the United States hinged on a breathtakingly slim 537-vote margin in Florida. Four years later, despite the occurrence of a recession, two wars, and a devastating terrorist attack on American soil, the two adversaries remain fairly evenly divided.

In the wake of an acrimonious election where both political parties together spent roughly $4 billion on the federal elections, politicians, analysts, citizens, and scholars continue to turn to the book that George Will called the "Bible of American politics" to understand the American political landscape. The 2006 Almanac of American Politics remains the gold standard of accessible political information, relied upon by everyone involved, invested, or interested in American politics. As in previous editions, the 2006 Almanac includes profiles of every member of Congress and every governor; in-depth and completely up-to-date narrative profiles of all 50 states and 435 House districts, covering everything from economics to history to, of course, politics; and analyses of the 2004 presidential election, the 2004 congressional elections, and redistricting battles. Specific to this latest edition of the nation's leading political reference work is coverage of all special elections in the 108th Congress and the California gubernatorial recall; maps and district profiles of the newly redrawn Texas congressional districts; a state-by-state analysis of the 2004 presidential election; a national overview of the 2004 presidential election; and a statistical breakdown of the 2004 presidential vote by state and congressional district.

Full of maps, census data, and information on topics ranging from campaign
expenditures to voting records to interest group ratings, this latest edition of the Almanac of American Politics presents everything you need to know about current American politics in snappy prose framed by cogent analysis.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892341122
• ISBN13: 9780892341122
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: National Journal Group
• Length: 1920 Pages
• Weight: 3.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Very good book

This book is a great resource for graduate students in Political Science who major in American Politics!

Great Resource

This is a great resource. I particularly like the demographic data. I am merely a political junky and like to flip through for interesting nuggets. I imagine it can be put to more use for campaign consultants and other political professionals.

America's Pre-Eminent Analyst Does It Again!

Mr. Barone is not your typical political reporter, he is America's best political analyst. Like an accountant, Mr. Barone can point out specifically which voting precinct in which state impacted elections. While others gab, Mr. Barone pulls out stats to back up his presentations. Additionally, Mr. Barone has been doing this type of work publically, since 1980. His Almanac of American Politics is not a one-off political hack-job. His work contains the stats we depend upon, and his credibility is unimpeachable. Those who should not read his work are those who are not happy with the direction the American electorate has been moving during the past 25 years. Whether it has been liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, doesn't matter to Mr. Barone, as he has reported all elections matter-of-factly, not with a spin. As socialism and liberal extremism dies out with the fading of the Baby Boomer generation, Mr. Barone merely reports it's decline. Some oldies won't like that. I have been watching and reading this man's work for over 25 years, and he is without doubt the most unimpartial political reporter, and the most knowledgeable. This Almanac is like a textbook, it is worth every dime you spend on it.

Excellent resource

This is the one-stop, must-read reference material for anyone with an interest in American politics. The book's narratives of the states, members of Congress are first-rate and can't be found anywhere else.