Special Topic: Elections and Forecasting 2006

Introduction

This special issue of The Forum reviews controversies lingering from the 2004 presidential election, particularly whether the election was decided on specific policy or moral issues. At the same time, The Forum looks ahead with two separate forecasts of the 2006 congressional elections by noted election scholars. Commentaries also address timely topics in Washington: Why so little fuss over renewal of the Voting Rights Act? Are presidential signing statements genuinely constitutional? And do the President and Congress reward "red states" with more pork? Finally, we furnish a review of Byron E. Shafer and Richard Johnston’s much anticipated book, The End of Southern Exceptionalism.