The States

Here's a question--what is going on in state elections? According to this Times article, Republicans think they can win in a lot of the state legislatures. I don't know how true this is, the reality is that not only do I not know, I don't even know how to know. All these national political websites seem to be ignoring the states. I haven't seen a single thing on either Kos or 538.com on any state races. Even the governor's races, which are really important.

Obviously, the national elections are more important and the focus on the Netroots have been on these races. But one thing the Republicans know is the value of low-level down-ballot races. School boards. Judges. County commissioners. Things like that. The left has never focused on these races to much extent. For all the talk of the grassroots, we haven't done a very good job at actually building from there to bigger races.

This really matters because of congressional realignment in 2010. In Texas, we need to flip 5 House seats. That might happen. But if Republicans are making gains in other states, that's a problem. And if they win governorships, that's even worse. Hopefully, one place the Netroots can build in the next 2 years is to a greater focus and publicity machine for these state and local races.