Question for people from red states

[Onlooker]

Even though Kerry might not win your state, how are the Democrats doing overall? What is your prognosis for the future of the Democrats in your state? Do you see promise?

[gospelized]

1. i live in VA

a red state for the past 40 years. now a swing state. that should pretty much say it all.

[catmandu57]

2. I don't have much hope for misery

We should hold the govenor's office, but as far as replacing that damn whiskey drunk bond in the senate, I'm not sure. Our congessional seat is held by a total rightwing whore, unless dems come out strong next month we'll have him for two more years.

[Nana]

3. Sigh..Texas...

but, I'm in El Paso..and I'm hoping we can become part of NM! :)

[ZombieNixon]

7. Yes, please come join us!

NK in NM

[southern democrat]

4. I live in TN. here we have a real poupular Democratic gov.

Phil Bredesen.I still am not giving up on Tn.going for Kerry.The latest polls show him behind but the debate performance will help him.Also Tn.generally will go with a winner if Kerry rises in national polls like he allready has started to do,look for Tn.to follow suit. As far as other Democrats we really don't have any other national contests,except for congressional races.I see no changes in Tn's congessional delagation.Lincoln Davis is in a race but I believe he will prevail.He beat Bowling once and I think he will again.As far as seanators go neither are up for re-elect this time around.Alexander is a Republican I can at least tolierate,but not vote for.Frist is scary,not running the next time around(of which I am glad).Democrats putting up Harold Ford,GOP- Zach Wamp,Van Hilleray and probabally others.Ford will get my vote but it will be hard for him.

[Dob Bole]

5. It's been a rough two years in Georgia....

Two years ago, our governor and both Senators were Democrats. Now it's looking like a total reversal will happen- Denise Majette is running far behind the well-funded Johnny Isakson. But Cleland will end up in charge of Veterans' affairs, in my opinion.

Overall, though, this will be a good year for Southern Democrats. It looks like we will win 5 of the 7 Senate races, and we will get rid of Bush, who is fairly popular here because of all his religious talking points. Getting rid of Bush will even up the score.

Not to mention that Max Cleland (D-GA), Wesley Clark (D-AR), and John Edwards (D-NC) will end up in a Kerry administration.

[Julien Sorel]

6. I live in AZ.

AZ is slooooowly turning purple, but it's agonizing to watch. When I moved here (Phoenix, the 5th largest city in the country I believe) about 8 years ago, they didn't have bus service on Sundays or after about 7:00 at night; that was because tax bill after tax bill got defeated for any kind of transit. They finally passed one a few years ago and now have barely adequate service. There's a light rail system on the ballot this year; it's almost certain to be defeated. The state is simply so anti-tax they'd rather have smog and an inadequate transportation system.

On street corners, political signs always mention it if the candidate is a Republican; some of them actually say "conservative Republican." I haven't seen a sign for a candidate yet that says "Democrat." It's just not cool here to be a Democrat.

Napolitano getting elected amazed me, and is a sign that things are changing as more people move here from out of state (primarily California), but as I said, the pace of change is slow. I'm likely to move out of the state soon, and I have to say I'm not going to miss it, the political climate being one of the reasons.

[demzilla]

8. Arizona -- blue skies ahead

Billy, I appreciate your frustration, so it may help you to get out of Phoenix once in a while and visit Tucson and Flagstaff, where the skies are considerably bluer.

Statewide voter registration stats as of 9/1 show 976,000 Repugs, 856,000 Dems, and 590,000 independents. Dems have increased 58,000 since 2002 and Reps 46,000. We're not at parity yet, but the GOP is only 40% of the electorate here, and Dems are 35%. So we need to fight a little harder to GOTV and to attract independents.

I have never seen AZ Dems so energized, and a lot of moderate Repugs don't like Chimpy. The ingredients are there for a win, and I think we'll do it if Kerry carries the next two debates.

George Will ran a column about a year ago in which he pointed out that Maricopa County (Phoenix) was voting much less GOP than it used to, the GOP margin of victory way down from what it used to be.

Keep in mind Clinton won AZ in '96 and Gore lost by only 6 points, even though he didn't bother to campaign here.

[shrub chipper]

9. Indiana here

Bush will win handily.

It looks like Bayh will win as well.

I think we will lose the Governorship after 16 Democratic years (and that is sad.

My own House representative is Hostetler, archest of arch Conservatives and who tried to bring a handgun on an airplane this spring. RW and stupid(or is that a redundancy?)