2008 Election Returns Published

The clerk of the U. S. House of Representatives has published a 77-page booklet entitled, "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election" (you'll see a little white "Zoom" box at the top of the page, which can be used to enlarge the print. The box shows "45%" when you first get to the PDF).

A few notes on the Mississippi returns: In the presidential election, "Independent" is Ralph Nader, while the Reform Party nominee is Ted Weill of Tylertown, Mississippi.

The special election for U. S. senator-- like all special elections in Mississippi-- was nonpartisan, and there were no party labels next to the candidates' names on the ballot. The booklet correctly put "No Party Affiliation" next to Ronnie Musgrove's name, but it incorrectly put "Republican" next to Roger Wicker's name.

Some 25,000 more Mississippians voted for president than for U. S. representative.

Some 46,000 voted for president but did not vote in the Wicker-Musgrove Senate race. Some 42,000 more voted for president than in the U. S. Senate contest between the Republican Thad Cochran and the Democrat Erik Fleming.

Notably, some 3,500 more voted in the Cochran-Fleming race than in the hotly-contested Wicker-Musgrove match-up, despite the fact that there was little doubt that Cochran would win his sixth term. This would seem to indicate that some people were turned off by the negative tone of the Wicker-Musgrove race.

Thanks to Ballot Access News for the link.