If you are as interested in political maps and how politics and geography intersect as I am, you ought to have a look at some of the amazing maps the New York Times has online for the American Presidential primaries. Not only have they got the standard county by county results mapped out in an easy to understand fashion (see here for the primaries in South Carolina for example), but they map both candidate events and more impressively money.
On the events map you can see where every candidate has been since April 1st, 2007. By comparing the democrat and republican maps the relative importance of various states to each party becomes clear. For instance Michigan and Florida have been much more visited by Republicans, but Nevada has had many more events from Democratic contenders. For each of the individual candidates their well publicised strategies are obvious - Giuliani focuses on Florida, Romney is prominent in Michigan and Huckabee's early emphasis on Iowa. Interestingly, McCain's frequent visits to California which could be key on Super-Tuesday.
The money map is even more interesting. It shows from where donations to each candidate have come, for the first three quarters of 2007. Expect the last quarter of 2007 to be added soon. You can see how much each region or state gave in each week. It is not surprising that most money, for both parties, comes from the places the money is: the north east and southern California. A candidate's home state always figures large in the fundraising. So Obama rasied three times more than Clinton in the Chicagoland area, and McCain twice as much as Romney in southern Arizona. What is also significant is where candidates have done well besides their home turf and moneyed areas. Romney's strength in Michigan (three times Clinton) is a testament to his family links there, and Utah (nearly 20 times more than Obama) shows his religious ties. Giuliani is very strong in Southern Florida and Huckabee and Thompson's money comes from across the Deep South.
The money map can be animated to show how the pattern of donations evolves over time. This will be very interesting when the most recent donations are added and the effects of winning or losing primaries can be seen.
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