the buzz log

Time for Electoral College class again: In the close contest that is the 2008 U.S. presidential election, how each state as a whole will swing for a candidate determines the next four years of political leadership. (Well, except for Maine and Nebraska, who divvy up the electoral votes.)

Of course, the scenario is far more nuanced then that. Reader's Digest, for instance, introduces readers to "Supervoters," about six groups that include "Millenial Evangelicals" and "First-Generation Asians." While targeting those groups is part of the vote-gathering strategy, campaigners are also breathing down the backs of what RD calls the "purple" undecided states.

As polls obsessively measure the possible Electoral College make-up, Search presents another set of numbers to look at—and the maps below show which states are heavily researching each contender. A little explanation is in order:

The color legend (low, medium, and hot) denotes the fervor of the 50 states relative to one another within one candidate's searches. Obviously, some state populations are much larger than others, so the fervor is measured roughly as Search Per Capita, rather than total number of queries per state.

What the four maps don't show is who gets the most Web interest from each state or from the country as a whole. That answer, at least over the past seven days, is Sarah Palin. She received 2.5 times more look-ups than Barack Obama, four times more than John McCain, and 24 times more than Joe Biden. (To save you from the algebra work, Obama leads McCain in searches by 58%). Now, onto the visuals:

Top 10 Regions: New Jersey; Virginia; New Hampshire; Ohio; Mississippi; North Carolina; Indiana; Washington, D.C.; Michigan; and Connecticut

 

 

Top 10 Regions: Washington, D.C.; Virginia; New York; Georgia; Colorado; Oregon; New Jersey; Maryland; Florida; and North Carolina

 

 

Top 10 Regions: New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; Connecticut; New York; Massachusetts; Michigan; Georgia; Florida; Pennsylvania; and Illinois

 

 

Top 10 Regions: Alaska, Montana, Connecticut, North Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Kansas