Describes how election campaigns for the office of president of the United States have changed from the time of George Washington to the Bush vs. Kerry campaign of 2004.

American presidents have come from all walks of life. Some have had a lot of experience campaigning for office, while others have had almost none. In fact, the nation's first president—George Washington—didn't even run for office. He was chosen by a group of electors in 1789. More than 200 years later, campaigning for the United States' highest office takes years to plan, years to carry out, and a lot of money. Candidates must be prepared to rally supporters at live events across the nation, give hundreds of interviews and speeches, and create sophisticated communication strategies. No longer can candidates simply let their records speak for themselves. They must engage their competition—and the American voter—in vigorous debate 24/7, using robust advertising, strategic appearances, and social media messaging. Follow the changes in presidential campaign strategies from the nation's early leaders to twenty-first century contenders. Meet the personalities that have defined the office, from George Washington to Barack Obama, the nation's first African American president. Learn how strategies to pick candidates, raise money, run campaigns, sway voters, and elect leaders have evolved. And see if you can predict what lies ahead for Americans in upcoming presidential elections.

In his latest book, Presidential Elections and Majority Rule, Edward Foley asks how the American electoral system can better represent the people. What kind of winner truly reflects the nation's votes: the plurality winners of winner-takes-all elections, as currently used, or the majority-preferred winners of a reformed system? How do third-party candidates affect American presidential elections? What, if anything, would change in a two-candidate run-off?And how can electoral reform be implemented without sowing chaos? Ultimately, Foley outlines a solution in which the Electoral College can be restored to its original majoritarian ideals through state law rather than Constitutional amendment.

This reference work provides complete returns for the presidential elections by state and county for the period 1788 to 1860. Available nowhere else in one volume, this information has been pieced together through years of research of original sources of many kinds. The election returns include each candidate's name, party, number of votes and percentage of votes. Explanatory footnotes and source information accompany the returns, as well as maps that show presidential election districts for those states and elections when presidential elections were so conducted. Also included are a history of voting for presidential electors and the influence of political parties on the electors, as well as listings of election dates, county names (past and present), party abbreviations used in the book, and counties created following each state's first popular election of electors.