What's Going On?

It's just ugly out there. No one is sure how far the challenges to the results of this month's Presidential Election will go. Further trouble is on the horizon: It is possible that recounts will be demanded for the states of New Mexico, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Will there indeed have to be a "do-over?"

Republicans, Democrats, and Independent candidates and voters are getting a very quick education on the arcane procedures involved in a close election result. If it were a simple as "one person, one vote" (also known as "proportional representation") then Al Gore would already be the President-elect.

However, because the Electoral College holds the final say, it is all coming down to the result in the state of Florida -- a result embroiled in unprecedented potential legal difficulties regarding voter intimidation and ballot design, and the long wait for the final absentee ballots to arrive.

Speculation abounds, but hard facts are thin on the ground. So we've compiled a list that covers (almost!) all of the eventualities. From how to why to where and who, it's all covered here:

The Electoral College Primer 2000 Suddenly you want to know how the Electoral College really works, right? The authors of this book couldn't have been more prescient in light of our current election chaos, and have provided a complete resource on the history and workings of this archaic and quirky system, revealing how it distorts campaigns, poorly represents the popular will, and precipitates a constitutional crisis -- sound familiar?

The Upset That Wasn't: Harry S. Truman and the Crucial Election of 1948 Harold I. Gullan Who can forget the triumphant image of Truman holding up the premature headline of his defeat that didn't happen? Well, apparently an entire nation, considering the goings-on of the first American presidential election of the 21st century. Gullan captures the heady times of the 1948 election -- Dewey's hubris, the poll's prediction of a Republican victory, Truman's whistle-stop campaign. If we are to learn anything from history, it is our consistent inability to do so.

The Control Room: How Television Calls the Shots in Presidential Elections Martin Plissner, former political director of CBS News, has played a central role in the network coverage of every presidential campaign since 1964. In The Control Room, he shows how all the elements of our nation's greatest contest -- the primaries, the conventions, the counting of the ballots -- are shaped by the networks' struggle for supremacy in today's media-intensive age. From the earliest announcements to the final swearing-in, Plissner argues that those inside the control rooms determine what Americans care about when they enter the polling booths, and whom the country ultimately sends to the Oval Office.

Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good A compelling study of how the media's heavy focus on the game of politics, rather than on its substance, starts the spiral of cynicism that erodes citizen interest. By observing voters who watched and read different sets of reports -- some saturated in strategy talk, others focused on the real issues -- the authors show clear links between the way in which the media cover levels of campaign and voter cynicism, however much recent events may be proving the obverse.

The People's Choice Somehow, Greenfield has delivered a very entertaining novel centered on the Electoral College. After the president-elect dies from a head injury, political wheeler-dealers debate and jockey for position as to whether the electoral votes pledged to the president-elect now need to go to his dimwit running mate. Much of the fun lies in unmasking the real-life politicians behind the thinly veiled characters.

Presidential Power Robert Y. Shapiro, et al.

The American President Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr. et al.

Hardball: How Politics Is Played-Told by One Who Knows the Game Christopher Matthews

The Power Game: How Washington Works Hedrick Smith

The Great Libertarian Offer Harry Browne

Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty James Bovard

The Federalist Papers: In Modern Language: Indexed for Today's Political Issues Mary E. Webster (ed).

The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates Ralph Ketchum (ed).

1876 Gore Vidal

Making Democracy Work Robert D. Putnam, et al.

Everything You Think You Know About Politics...and Why You're Wrong Kathleen Hall Jamieson

Prince Albert: The Life and Lies of Al Gore David N. Bossie, et al.

Dewey Defeats Truman Thomas Mallon

Scandalmonger William Safire

Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose

The Ralph Nader Reader Ralph Nader

The People's President: The Electoral College in American History and the Direct Vote Alternative Neil R. Pierce and Lawrence D. Longley

No Way to Pick a President Jules Witcover

The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election Zachary Karabel

The Corruption of American Politics: What Went Wrong and Why Elizabeth Drew

Also, read our Campaign Trail Book Report: Al Gore and George W. Bush