While so much attention has been addressed to the US Senate and House races this election year, the voters’ choices of 37 Governors are crucial for the long term health, or lack of it, of the two major political parties for the next decade!
This is due to the fact that the Governors will have the major input to the approval of reapportionment plans in the states for seats in the US House of Representatives, as well as state legislative districts.
Even if the state legislature is controlled by one party, if the Governor in office in 2011 is of the opposition party, it can have a dramatic effect on how the districts are gerrymandered, and can determine fortunes politically for the next ten years!
This is particularly significant in large states such as Texas, California, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Washington, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, among others.
So the state governorship races require more analysis than would be often imagined, because of their effect on the national political scene!