Democrats have edge in statehouse races

[Omaha Steve]

Full story: http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=137&languageId=1&contentId=134903



TOP STORY

Thursday, August 17, 2006
Democrats have edge in statehouse races
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer


NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Democrats are likely to make gains in state legislative races this year, but it’s a toss-up whether the seats they win will be enough to overtake control of a handful of narrowly divided statehouses, a panel of election experts said at the National Conference of State Legislatures annual conference here.

“The 2006 state legislative elections could rival those of the historic 1994 elections when the GOP picked up more than 500 statehouse seats,” Tim Storey, who specializes in statehouse elections at NCSL, said. Historically, the party that controls the White House loses statehouse seats during midterm elections.

On top of that, President Bush's approval ratings have been hovering in the 30 percent range while recent polls suggest that voters are angry and that incumbents could have a tough time. “At the end of the day, it will be the Democrats that have the most to gain,” Storey said.

Michael Davies, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, predicted his party could pick up as many as 150 seats this fall, but said it was uncertain whether the newly won seats “are going to be in the right spot to flip legislatures” to the Democrats’ control.

[AX10]

1. Democrats don't need to gain 500 seats to be in the majority.

Remember, they have more seats across the board then the GOP did in 1994.
We have 22 Governorships as opposed to the GOP's 19, 45 Senate seats against their 43, and 203 House seats as opposed to their 176 seats. We control 47 legislative bodies against their 39.