Siegelman conceeds in Alabama

Ending the threat of legal action, Gov. Siegelman conceeded to his Republican opponent. This concession puts Alabama in the GOP column, and gives them a 26-24 lead in governorships.

In the final tally, the GOP lost 1 governorship, while the Democrats picked up 3. The two independent governorships (in ME and MN) split evenly between the two major parties.

The GOP picked up: AK, AL, GA, HI, MD, MN, NH, SC, and VT.

The Democrats picked up: AZ, IL, KS, ME, MI, NM, OK, PA, TN, WI, and WY.

An extraordinary 20 governorships changed parties, out of 36 contested. Democrats did far better in picking up key swing states for 2004. CW is that a governor can give his or her party's presidential nominee a 1-3 point boost through the use of the guvernatorial bully pulpit and state party apparatus.

As such, the following GOP pickups could help Bush's chances in 2004: MN, NH, and VT (17 electoral votes). On the Dem side, we have AZ, IL, MI, NM, PA, TN, and WI (95 electoral votes).

While I hoped the Dems would take the majority of governorships, I'll still take these numbers any day of the week.

Posted November 19, 2002 09:07 AM | Comments (86)