swing states...that are swing states no longer?

[Ben.]

Dino Rossi ran as a nice guy, Gregoire ran as an ice queen. They didn't even run on politics. They just ran on Gregoire screwing up as much as humanly possible. No major scandals either. The only thing remotely interesting about this election was the results.

I'd say Washington and Delaware (rarely mentioned) for Democrats and West Virginia for Republicans.

WA and DE for the Dems easily... for the GOP states like TN, LA and AR (all voted for Clinton) are  becoming more Republican but that could be a product of the campaign and the candidates in 2000/04... its really hard to say WA and DE are pretty obvious for the Dems and despite the big Bush wins in WV and MO a moderate Dem would put both in play where as a moderate Republican would not necessarily put WA and De in play… just my two cents.

[Ben.]

It all depends on the candidates and what issues they run on.

Here's a useful analogy: Gene Taylor (D-MS) v Bill Weld (R-NY/MA)

Or we could pick two new(ish) Governers:

Schwartzeng Arnie (R-CA) v Manchin (D-WV)

Someone make maps of those two races...

Taylor vs Weld



Arnie vs Manchin (on the basis of positions rather than personality )