The Roads to Congress 2010

The 2010 Midterm Elections were momentous in the history of U.S. campaigns. Readers of this book will follow the path of seven House and six Senate races from inception to election postmortem. The chapters are both narrative and provide analysis of an array of interesting and diverse contests from throughout the country. Each entry was written by one or more experts living in the state or region of the race. The authors provide succinct and highly readable chapters meant to illustrate the distinctive nature of the campaigns they are examining. Readers will see individual campaigns and elections "up close" and be able to compare and contrast one from another because of the common format employed throughout the book. Taken together, the chapters reveal that the roads to Congress, while similar in so many ways, each follow a unique route to Capitol Hill.

Table of Contents:
1 Preface Part 2 Part I: Introduction Chapter 3 1. A third "wave" election in a row: The House turns Republican while the Senate stays Democratic Part 4 Part II: House of Representatives Elections Chapter 5 2. Florida District 8 Race (Webster v. Grayson): No Magic Kingdom for the Incumbent Chapter 6 3. Illinois District 14 Race (Hultgren v. Foster): A National Referendum against the President and Incumbents Chapter 7 4. Illinois District 11 Race (Kinzinger v. Halvorson): A Fresh Incumbent does not survive the Tsunami Chapter 8 5. Mississippi District 4 Race (Taylor v. Palazzo): A Conservative Democrat Loses to a More Conservative Republican Chapter 9 6. New York District 20 Race (Gibson v. Murphy): The Red Tide Returns to the Upper Hudson Valley Chapter 10 7. Ohio District 6 Race (Johnson v. Wilson): Ripe for Independent Spenders Chapter 11 8. Virginia District 5 Race (Hurt v. Perriello): A Congressman Falls to a Republican Tsunami Part 12 Part III: U.S. Senate Elections Chapter 13 9. Alaska Senate Race (McAdams v. Miller v. Murkowski): Alaska's Three-Way Senate Race and Lisa Murkowski's Write-in Victory Chapter 14 10. California Senate Race (Fiorina v. Boxer): The Great Democratic Exception in a Republican Year Chapter 15 11. Colorado Senate Race (Bennet v. Buck): Incumbency Success in an Anti-Incumbency Year Chapter 16 12. Connecticut Senate Race (McMahon v. Blumenthal): Blumenthal Beats McMahon in a Race that Set State Records for Spending Chapter 17 13. Florida Senate Race (Crist v. Meek v. Rubio): The Rise of Rubio and fall of Crist Chapter 18 14. Missouri Senate Race (Blunt v. Carnahan): Still a National Bellwether State Part 19 Part IV: Conclusion Chapter 20 15. The Legacy of the 2010 Congressional Elections 21 Index 22 About the Contributors

About the Author :
Sean D. Foreman is assistant professor of political science at Barry University. Robert Dewhirst is professor of political science at Northwest Missouri State University.

Review :
With 435 House districts and 50 states, there are many "roads to Congress." This is the latest installment in a series that stretches back at least a decade. Essays in this volume focus on campaigns for House and Senate seats during the 2010 election cycle. Case studies focus on the districts or states, candidates, campaigns, and events that led to the electoral outcome in each case. Seven essays focus on House races and seven on Senate races, geographically dispersed across the US. The underlying assumption of the entire series is that local context matters and congressional campaigns matter, shaping how members of Congress arrive on Capitol Hill. Ironically, the 2010 electoral cycle was largely shaped by the national context: the Obama presidency, the state of the economy, and the Tea Party revolt. This volume is particularly valuable for teaching undergraduate courses that focus on campaigns and elections. The skillfully written case studies will engage students in the hurly-burly world of politics and the factors that shape elections. Practitioners may gain some insight from comparisons among different races, and political junkies will find the book to be a fascinating read. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; undergraduate students and above.