The Washington Post's Dan Balz reports that Polidata has completed the first analysis of Presidential voting trends by Congressional District for the 2004 elections. The results don't necessarily bode well for the Dems.

Only 59 of the 435 congressional districts went in different directions in presidential and House elections last year, according to newly released data from the political analysis firm Polidata. In the remaining districts, voters either backed both President Bush and the Republican House candidate or John F. Kerry and the Democratic House candidate.

[...]

Polidata's Clark Bensen said that Bush carried 255 congressional districts on his way to winning reelection last November, while Kerry won 180. The president captured 214 districts held by congressional Republicans and 41 districts that were won by Democratic House candidates. Just 18 of the districts that Kerry won are in GOP hands.

[...]

Bensen's figures show again the depth of the Democrats' problems in the South. Not only did Bush carry every southern state, he carried the overwhelming percentage of congressional districts, except those where minorities are in the majority. Bush carried 116 southern congressional districts, Kerry just 38. According to Bensen, just three House Republicans from the South occupy districts won by Kerry, while almost two dozen southern Democrats are in districts carried by Bush.

Although I don't believe the Democrats need to devise a "Southern strategy" in order to retake the White House, it's clear from this map that the 2008 nominee will have to do better in the region. Even more fundamentally, the nominee must be more competitive across the entire nation. Winning just 180 CDs just isn't going to cut it.