| Book Reviews | The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 131.1

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| Book Reviews | The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 131.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Reviews

Elections in Pennsylvania: A Century of Partisan Conflict in the Keystone State. By Jack M. Treadway. (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005. xxiv, 296p. Appendix, references, index. $55.)
"A man could campaign half his life in Pennsylvania and still not know what he's doing." So observed George Wallace during his 1972 presidential campaign. Had Wallace had access to Elections in Pennsylvania, he may have been less mystified. Likewise, Governor Leader might have revised his recipe for political success: "speak on anything as long you're against gun control, the Court's decision on school prayer, and Philadelphia."	1
Jack Treadway has analyzed a massive amount of data on legislative, congressional, senatorial, and gubernatorial elections from 1900 through 1998, placed that analysis in a historical context, and drawn several conclusions regarding electoral behavior. Some are not new. It will come as no surprise that "despite the dramatic political transformations ... the state has always retained a Republican bias" (p. 199). Nor will it shock many to learn that marginal incumbents have been more likely than safe incumbents to lose. The value is not in the conclusions themselves, but rather in the quantitative methods Treadway has applied to demonstrate their validity.	. . .

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