The United States is in the midst of a new election season and candidates are crisscrossing the country. Campaign signs are sprouting up in front yards and adorning car bumpers. Volunteers are appearing at grocery stores and train stations, offering to help people with last-minute voter registration. Serious, sometimes heated, conversations are taking place with increasing frequency about which candidate will lead the country down a better road.

Most Americans follow a presidential election campaign through the newspaper or on the nightly television news or their favorite radio talk show or Internet Website. Relatively few citizens have the experience of meeting the candidates unless they live in a hotly contested state—one of the so-called battleground states. Those who do—especially in communities with a lot of undecided voters—are likely to have several opportunities to see candidates throughout the campaign season. Those who live in communities that consistantly vote for Republicans or Democrats are not likely to see candidates from either party.

The presidential election campaign of 2004 is no exception to these patterns. As the November 2 election day approaches, media coverage is intensifying and the candidates are sharpening their differences on the issues. President George Bush and Senator John Kerry are traveling around the country addressing crowds of potential supporters, particularly in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Mexico. The two candidates scheduled three nationally televised debates to bring the issues into clearer focus for voters. What seems to concern Americans most in the 2004 election, according to the polls, are security issues and the state of the domestic economy, especially jobs.

This journal provides a broad look at the elections—the influential forces at work, the positions of the two major parties, and voting procedures in the United States. The first section examines six important factors that affect the election: the need to win enough states to carry the Electoral College, the various ethnic and demographic voting groups, the significance of elections for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the evolving regulations governing the financing of campaigns, the role of the media and political advertising, and the impact of third-party candidates. Each segment combines background information with commentary by an expert on how they see the subject playing out in the 2004 campaign.

The second section compares the Republican and Democratic party platforms, which state their official positions on a range of policy issues. Two political activists, one from each party, give overviews of their party's positions on several key topics. Then excerpts from both platforms are contrasted in a side-by-side format.

The final section looks at some of the mechanics of U.S. elections, including the Electoral College, polling places, voting machines, and ballots.

Americans are fond of arguing about their electoral system—whether the Electoral College should be scrapped, how to control the amount of money that is spent on campaigns, what kind of voting machines are easiest for citizens to use. Each election cycle brings its own complaints, adjustments, and reforms, and discussions begin on how it should be done the next time. Still, the system has served the country through the peaceful transfer of presidential power for more than 200 years and remains a model of American democracy in action.

The Editors