As Kos pointed out long ago, one of the key things we need to do is rebuild the Democratic party on the state level. It looks like Michigan has made some progress on that score. We took back the state House, though the Senate looks improbable at this point. Here are excerpts from
Matt at michiganliberal.com:
Good things:
...
Democrats will control the State House, 58-52 [Currently 58-49 Republican].
Democrats increased their numbers in the State Senate by at least 1.
Democrats swept ALL State Board of Education & University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University governing board seats that were up this year
Bad things:
Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land (R) re-elected
Attorney General Mike Cox (R) re-elected
Proposal 2 (anti-affirmative action) passes
Unless recounts prove otherwise, Republicans will still control the State Senate
George Bush is still president
It also looks like we could have had the Senate if we had had better voter turnout in certain African-American communities and if Greens had not run candidates in Democratic districts.