Roads to Congress 2008

The Roads to Congress 2008 offers readers straightfoward and detailed case studies of the campaigns, candidates, key issues, and outcomes of over one dozen of the most important and interesting races of 2008. This includes both House and Senate campaigns, contests from all regions of the country, and seats held by Democrats and Republicans, as well as open seats. Every two years the pageantry of American politics unfolds when all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and roughly one-third of those in the U.S. Senate are up for election. These elections provide voters with an opportunity to evaluate their members of Congress and the institution as a whole. They also offer a regular and frequent barometer for the health and practice of American democracy. The 2008 election cycle, in particular, was in many ways one of the most intriguing and pivotal elections in many years and for many reasons, which are explored in this book.

The Roads to Congress is most insightful, highly organized, well-researched, and entertaining. It is a major contribution to the literature because it does what few books do in this area: the authors actually take the reader inside these congressional districts and states and convey what happens during real campaigns. The information presented in these chapters is expert, cogent, knowledgeable, and well-documented. Students will find it highly accessible, and anyone who is thinking about running for Congress must read this book., The 2008 elections were about more than choosing the next president. In this, the latest in the Roads to Congress series, nearly two dozen political scientists offer their assessments of 14 House and Senate election campaigns from that year. Wisely, the authors write about campaigns that occurred in their own states or districts, allowing them to combine 'on-the-ground' knowledge with more sophisticated analyses. A number of chapters provide useful insights and enjoyable nuggets of information, and the volume begins with an excellent foreword by Ken Hechler, a true living legend who served in Congress from 1958 to 1977. Unfortunately, not all the chapters are equally strong in writing style or structure. Although the opening and concluding chapters offer some review of the major factors that affected congressional elections in 2008 (e.g., the poor economy and Obama's strong campaign), the book fails to tease out generalizations about campaign tactics and strategies from individual cases. However, any student of congressional politics should consider the book an excellent reference; it would also be a fine source for case studies in an undergraduate course on elections. Recommended., In The Roads to Congress, Robert Watson joins with Robert Dewhirst to train their keen eyes upon the 2008 congressional races and do for them what a number of scholars have done for presidential elections. The result fills a vacuum and provides much-needed insights into the congressional electoral process—an even more diffuse and difficult subject than the race for the presidency. As this extraordinary collection demonstrates, Watson continues to be among our most prolific and thoughtful scholars. The collaboration with Dewhirst, who also contributes keen analysis and clear writing, clearly works.

Robert P. Watson is the Director of American Studies at Lynn University. He is also the author and editor of many books, including The Presidents' Wives, Israel and the Legacy of Harry S. Truman, and America's War on Terror.