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.

The Roads to Congress 2010 follows the path of seven House and six Senate races from inception to election postmortem. The book provides an array of case studies of important 2010 congressional races which collectively will give college undergraduate students a compelling narrative explanation of America's electoral process and the keys to winning vital elections.

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