There were 3 GOP wins not 2.
FLA Guv 06 (Limp Crist the RINO)
Indiana Senate 06 (no dem Candidate against RINOish Dick Lugar)
Indiana Guv 08
Cao’s victory is important for La GOP. 17 years ago, David Duke ran on the GOP ticket for Governor. Talk about a national embarrassment. Tonight we have Rep. Cao and Gov Jindal representing the La GOP. It will help to shed the image of the GOP being a country club for white rural evangelicals.
Sorry, my mistake, I meant to put CO instead of IN and was referring to Salazar’s win in 04, their gov’s win in 06 and Udall this year. I believe the republican Owens won in 2004.
Also, counted McCain’s win in MO as a satewide win.
A Gov and Sen race lost in OH in 06. 2 sen races and a gov race in VA in 05-08. A gov and Sen race in NC in 08. A Gov and a Sen race in MO 06/08. A Gov and a Sen race in CO in 06/08. A sen race in NM in 08. 6-0 in those states at the pres level in 04, 1-5 in 08. That’s pretty bad across the board at all levels.
The numbers are pretty stark. 06-08 is pretty much a mirror image of 02-04. One set really good, the other really bad.
Looking at thow things deterioratied for the party across a whole bunch of states from 06-08 it’s clear that things were pretty bad across the board and I don’t think it’s really fair to blame one person(unless it’s Bush as he takes the lion’s share). This has just been a really bad two years.
That said, the fact that things changed so drastically shows that hey can change again I think, depending on what happens. If the economy stays bad under Obama, if some big nat’l security or foreign issue pops up, if he overreaches on health care or immigration or some other domestic issue that engenders a backlash, etc...
4 years is a lot of time. But we should know by 2010 if things are looking up or if they’re still down.