State legislative elections : voting patterns and demographics /

Congressional Quarterly offers another truly excellent reference source on American electoral politics, this time at the state legislative level. This volume examines state legislative elections in the decade of the 1990s. Following a brief national overview essay, the legislative election results for each state are analyzed first in an essay by Barone that focuses on how party politics have shifted in the 1990s. Multicolor maps have been prepared for each state legislative body that show boundaries of each legislative district and classify districts as urban, suburban, or rural. Tabular data for each legislative body include information on which party won each seat (and by how much) for each state election in the 1990s. These tables also reveal the urban, suburban, and rural mix of each legislative district, the wealth, education level, reliance of households on Social Security (SS) income, and the racial mix of each district. Indexes calculate an average Democratic district and an average Republican district by demographic mix, income level, degree of education, reliance on SS income, and racial mix. Finally, these party-by-party indexes are juxtaposed against the overall state average for the same criteria, showing how close the "party fit" is for each legislative district. The election and demographic data provided for each of the nation's 6,744 state legislative districts provide a fascinating picture of state legislative politics. Thoughtful analyses accompany and help explain the mountain of data presented in this volume. A splendid resource for anyone doing research on state legislative elections or seeking a greater understanding of state legislative politics. Essential for libraries. W. K. Hall Bradley University

Although statistical analysis of federal election results is abundant, state election results have not received the same level of scrutiny. CQ has attempted to address this disparity through a partnership with InContext, Inc., an international information company specializing in "politicoeonomic analyses that juxtapose socioeconomic data against . . . political jurisdictions." This partnership has already produced two titles: The Almanac of State Legislatures [RBB Ja 15 95] and The State Atlas of Political and Cultural Diversity (1997), which used digitized images of the nation's 6,744 state legislative districts as the basis for their analyses. State Legislative Elections uses these images, 1990 U.S. Census data, and state legislative election results from 1990^-96 to create maps and charts that show voting patterns and socioeconomic data for each Senate and House district in the nation. Four-color maps show the geodemographic makeup of each district within a state, that is, what areas are rural, suburban, urban, or mixed and the location of major cities. Charts indicate which party won general elections during the relevant time period, the percentage of the vote received, and the district's geodemographic makeup. These charts also contain key demographic data, including average household income in the district, percent with a college education, percent of households receiving Social Security, and percent of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans in the district. A useful feature would have been an appendix matching cities, towns, and counties to their legislative district(s). Users may need to determine the number of the district(s) they are researching from another source before using this book. Coauthor Michael Barone, former senior writer at U.S. News and World Report, contributes one-page essays on each state's political history and trends. His essays are informative and entertaining but do not contain citations to any sources. They illustrate the difficulty in addressing time-sensitive material in a monograph, as they contain numerous references to elections scheduled for 1997 and 1998. It's too late for the 1997 elections, but to obtain maximum benefit from Barone's insights into the upcoming 1998 elections, librarians will need to order and catalog this book as a "Rush!" Useful for political researchers, lobbyists, public interest groups, and political junkies of all types, and recommended for public and academic libraries.