Following the 2010 election but finding it difficult to keep track of 435 races?  Would you like to get answers to questions like this:

• In which seats is the incumbent not running for re-election?
• What is the breakdown of the current House in the South?
• What 6+ term Representatives are in competitive races this year?
• In what seats does the incumbent party trail in the polls?

Now you can get the answer to these questions and many others just by clicking the FIND button at the top left of our House of Representatives 2010 Election Map.   Choose combinations of geography, party, length of service, current race status and more to display a map that matches all your criteria.

It’s pretty cool stuff, we think.  Enjoy!

We’ve added an interactive map to help you monitor the 2010 election of all 535 members of the House of Representatives. The map offers a number of starting views:

• Current Congress reflects the party makeup of the current House, which, as of this writing, includes 254 Democrats, 177 Republicans and 4 open seats (3 due to resignation and 1 due to death).
• All Neutral view is basically a blank map
• Projected Congress: Party Map is the first of two predictive maps (based on projections by the Cook Political Report).   In this case, it is at the party level
• Projected Congress:  Margin Map takes it to a finer level, based on how strong each candidate’s hold on the seat is.  Seats are designated as undecided/tossup, leaning, likely and safe.

Choose a starting view and from there you can customize the map as you deem appropriate to follow the 2010 election.   Place your cursor over any District to get information on the incumbent Representative.

Several zoom features are also available to help you better view some of the geographically smaller Districts.   More details on this and the other 2010 election map functi0nality are below the map.

We’ll soon be updating the Senate map for the 2010 election as well.

We’ve updated our electoral college map, rolling it over to make 2012 the interactive year, and moving 2008 into history.  (Just select 2008 or any prior election on the drop down above the map to see the results).     This is our first pass at 2012; more improvements to come as the election draws nearer.

The major change to the map is the ability to view 2012 based on the electoral votes of 2008 or based on an estimate of what the electoral college map will actually look like in 2012.  For more on why the map will change, including a graphic showing the projected changes by state, see this post.

In addition, the Starting Views have been updated.  The default is now 2008 Actual, including the split vote for Nebraska.  Other options include 2008 Very Close (states decided by 5% or less) and 2008 Competitive (states decided by 10% or less).

We’ve also reactivated our “Road to 270″ feature, that lets you see every possible combination for each party to reach 270 electoral votes…. based on your customized map.

Check it out and let us know what you think.

*** Please follow us on Twitter for future updates and enhancements to the 270toWin site in 2010 and beyond.    We’ve got some pretty cool stuff planned.  ***

Among many other things, the official Census leads to reapportionment — and this will determine how many House seats each state has beginning with the 2012 election (as well as the outline of Congressional Districts).   It will also change the electoral college map, as each state receives one electoral vote for each representative (plus two for the two Senate seats).

We thought we’d take a look at how the map would likely change if the population figures released today were the actual Census numbers:

Arizona +1, Florida+1, Georgia +1, Illinois -1, Iowa -1, Louisiana -1, Massachusetts -1, Michigan -1, Nevada +1, New Jersey -1, New York -1, Ohio -2, Pennsylvania -1, South Carolina +1, Texas +3, Utah +1, Washington +1.  

These changes are depicted on the map above, with the states colored to match the winner in the 2008 election.   If that election were held with this projected 2012 map in place, Barack Obama would have ended up with 6 fewer electoral votes and the final count would have been 359-179 instead of 365-173.

There were a couple changes in here from our last projection which reflect the fact that the recession has slowed growth in certain states as fewer people are relocating.  For example, in that prior assessment, we had Florida gaining 2 electoral votes (now 1) and California gaining 1 (now 0).   If that trend continues until the Census, it may turn out that the 2012 map doesn’t yield as many changes as it might now appear.

The Census Bureau has launched a website for the 2010 Census.    The Census’ outcome impacts everyone; for our purposes the main issue of concern is the redrawing of Congressional Districts and the new number of Representatives per state.   The number of Representatives gained or lost by each state will translate into a corresponding gain or loss of Electoral Vote.

Every state’s Electors (except Hawaii) have now cast their votes, according to the AP.   There has been no deviation from the expected total, with Obama currently ahead 361-173.   Once Hawaii votes, the final total should match that projected on Election Day:  365-173 for Obama.

Today, the Electors will meet in all 50 states (+ DC) to cast their ballots.   Technically, Barack Obama isn’t the winner of the election until the Electors vote, but that is mostly a formality in modern times.   It will be interesting to see if there are any deviations from the projected final total of 365-173 for Obama.

Another requirement is the counting of the electoral votes in Congress.   Public Law 110-430 has changed the date of this count to January 8, 2009 from January 6, 2009.   This change is only for the 2008 election.

For the first time since 1956, and only the 2nd time in the last 104 years, the “Show Me State” got it wrong, as McCain has won that state’s 11 electoral votes.

The Electors will meet on December 15 to vote.   If all remain faithful and there are no voting errors, the final tally of the 2008 election will be Obama 365 McCain 173.

Please nominate 270toWin!  Deadline is tonight (Sunday 11/16)  Thanks!

The Associated Press has called North Carolina for Obama.  We’ve updated the home page map to reflect this.   The last time it voted for a Democrat was Carter in 1976.  Missouri remains too close to call, awaiting the count of 7,100 provisional ballots.  It is believed McCain has a slight edge there.  If he wins, Missouri will no longer be the answer to our Electoral College Quiz question #2.  (The new answer, based on a cursory look, will be Ohio…but we need to review the data some more).

One electoral vote (the 2nd Congressional District) remains up for grabs in Nebraska.  McCain has an ever-so-slight lead here.    Nebraskans have never split their electoral votes since the somewhat proportional system was put into place.

If these leanings hold, the final unofficial electoral count will be 364-174.  Our prediction was 393-145.     We will have missed Georgia, Montana and Missouri.