I have been harping on the importance of state representative and senate seats for ages, but this news from Governing just makes the point all that more stark:
When Governing last assessed the 2010 state legislative elections in July, the situation looked grim for the Democrats. The Democrats had 21 of their chambers in play, compared to just four for the Republicans — by far the most lopsided split we’ve seen in any of the past five election cycles.
Now, a few months down the road, the Democratic outlook for the state legislatures has only worsened. …
Putting it all together, we estimate that the Democrats are on the verge of losing a net of four to 12 Senate chambers and six to 15 House chambers. At the higher end of those ranges, the control numbers for state legislative chambers would be fully reversed. Today, there are significantly more Democratic-controlled state Houses and Senates. But if the GOP makes strong enough gains, it could hand the Republicans sizable leads in both chambers — just as the decennial redistricting process is set to begin.
In all, we’ve shifted 18 chambers from their July ratings — all in the Republicans’ direction.
Found via NCSL.
Even though Bushkin won two terms, it was during the last that he and power-behind-the-throne (Uncle Dick) managed to get Obama elected. Now POTUS Obama is doing his darndest to get the Republicans back into power.
One word – redistricting.
NH House will flip, and maybe the Senate too. Senate’s a toss-up, in my book.