Some fascinating takes from really smart people in this article – they make some grand statements that the ongoing conflict in Iraq is going to completely taint all state and local races. While it is true that Republican candidates can get swept along in a national tide…if they do nothing to localize their races. It’s not even close to accurate to make it sound like there’s nothing anyone can do and that Republicans should just take what’s coming.

The truth is that when state and local candidates run their own races, and focus on the debate on local issues, and don’t take the bait of talking about who moved what tank where (does Oregon even have tanks?), they run much stronger than the national trend.  Cases in point from the “dreadful” ’06 Elections – Tennessee, Oregon, Montana, Oklahoma, Iowa, Maine, and Alabama just to name a few. We think our view point will be proven come November, but early indicators in both public and private polling we’ve seen show things settling down significantly on the national stage. Voters are smarter than to take the bait and believe that Ron Ramsey, Carol Weston, Christopher Rants, Glen Coffee or Mike Hubbard have anything to do with war policy – and pundits should be too.

Not a single governor or state legislator wields authority over the conduct of the Iraq War, yet a broad range of party strategists and political analysts agree that state races in 2008 will be shaped, mostly indirectly, by public attitudes towards that conflict.

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