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When it comes to presidential politics, in the words of the immortal Duke Ellington, "it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." Because presidential elections are decided by the electoral vote and not the popular vote, and because every state except Nebraska and Maine awards all of its electoral votes to the candidate who wins a plurality of the popular vote, no matter how small the margin, presidential campaigns devote almost all of their resources on the swing states -- the minority of states where the race is close enough that both candidates believe they have a chance to win. In 2004, a dozen states fell into this category. Some were heavily populated states with large numbers of electoral votes such as Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. They received the lion's share of the campaigns' attention. But even... [read full story]
