I'd like to thank Nick Carbone for pointing out this analysis of the 2004 election results on Tech Rhet. This page features a variety of "alternative" maps of the election results--the purple one that most of us have already seen, but also maps that take into consideration the populations of states and counties. The obvious visual argument here is that the election wasn't nearly as decisive as the traditional maps indicate.

Nick points out that there is plenty of room here for visual rhetorical analysis. I would tend to agree. Perhaps a few of the news media covering the 2008 election will consider incorporating some of these ideas into their visual coverage of the results.