From National Journal:

“All of these states are critical for us,” said Michael Sargeant, executive director of the DLCC. “It’s about infrastructure. The more Democratic office holders we have, the more Democrats who can talk about the Democratic message closer to ground.”

“That,” Sargeanted added, “makes it easier for people to vote for Democrats across the rest of the ticket.”

The DLCC’s previous success suggests a strong case can be made that these state level races have significant implications for presidential races.

Dems have gained majorities in many legislative chambers since 2004 in states that John Kerry lost but that Obama won 4 years later.

These include CO House, CO Senate and NC House in ’04. In ’06, Dems took control of the IN House, IA House and IA Senate. The following year, they won back the VA Senate. Most recently in ’08, Dems took back the NV Senate and OH House.

So of the 9 states that Obama won in ’08 that Kerry lost in ’04, the Dems had taken back at least one chamber of the state legislature in 7 of them.

Republicans have also identified these chambers as targets and are extremely confident in their chances.

“They will be very lucky if they hang on to a single chamber that they mentioned,” said Chris Jankowski, the exectuve diretor of the GOP’s “Red Map” redistricting program. “Red Map” is part of the Republican State Leadership Committee, the GOP’s equivalent to the DLCC.

The RSLC anticipates spending between $18M and $20M this year entirely on offense. “We can confidently say that Republicans are not going to lose a single chamber,” Jankowski said.

Jankowski added that Republicans are in position to go after Obama’s base.

“Every district we’ll play in was won by Obama,” he said.

That, Jankowski said, will pose problems for Obama in ’12. Like the DLCC, the RSLC will focus on providing grassroots, field and messaging support. If the election breaks the GOP’s way, these races will present an uphill climb for Obama.

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