The Changing Electoral Map

To see if the electoral map is really changing, Cook mapped the changes in voter registration statistics.  He found that across the nation, Democrats have gained 700,000 new party members since President Bush's re-election in 2004, while Republicans have lost 1 million -- and that's only in the 29 states that register by party.

Rhodes Cook, a political pundit and former colleague who has made a career of explaining the present by studying the past and the statistical trends, has just published a new analysis of recent voter registration figures. It's not likely to comfort many Republicans.

To see if the electoral map is really changing, Cook mapped the changes in voter registration statistics. He found that across the nation, Democrats have gained 700,000 new party members since President Bush's re-election in 2004, while Republicans have lost 1 million -- and that's only in the 29 states that register by party. The numbers strongly suggest that several states won by Bush will be up for grabs this year.

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Mark Willen
Senior Political Editor, The Kiplinger Letter