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50 state strategy

Challenging Every Republican State Legislator in 2008

by: mikect

Thu May 10, 2007 at 07:16:56 AM EDT

(Read and read again. - promoted by ctblogger)

Dean

Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy is credited with helping to shift state and federal elections throughout the country to the side of the Democrats in the last election. Dean seeks to revitalize Democratic organizing at the grassroots level in every part of the country, refusing to cede any territory to the Republican party. Translating Dean's successful strategy to Connecticut would mean that every Republican candidate is challenged by a Democrat in the general election, and no legislative district or town is sacrificed to the GOP. Connecticut new system of public campaign financing should remove the last legitimate barrier to strongly challenging Republican incumbents in state legislative elections in 2008.

In 2006, voters from one in six state legislative districts in Connecticut elected a Republican who ran unopposed by any Democrat (see list below). This means that that most Republicans elected to the General Assembly had no Democratic opposition (33 of 57, or 58%) . In contrast, only 28% of elected Democrats were unchallenged by a Republican (37 of 130). Connecticut is ranked only 22nd in the nation in the percentage of seats contested by both major parties.

So while Connecticut Republicans raised only 71% of the total funds raised by Democrats in General Assembly elections in the last cycle, current GOP legislators are twice as likely to have won unchallenged by a Democrat.

Below, I discuss the free-ride Republicans, their regional breakdown, and their vulnerability.

There's More... :: (16 Comments, 1596 words in story)