This is going to be somewhat short, and really a plug for why local races (and the new group Virtual America) matter here at the DK.
Way back in May, I wrote a diary (here) about how partisan politics is being injected at increasingly lower levels of government. Most of it originating from the Republican party, eager to cash in on the faux-populist Tea Party vote. The case here has been many of the Republican contenders for Mayor are openly identifying their party affiliation in a (nominally) non-partisan race. One council candidate even goes so far as to list "REPUBLICAN" in big red letters on his signs, in even larger font than his name.
Flash forward to July. The Sunday edition of the Arizona Republic runs a story on - wait for it - the increasingly partisan politics being injected in the Phoenix races. I have to admit, though, Lynh Bui is a much better writer than yours truly (I'm a software engineer - that's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it).
In any case - local elections are just as important as any national race. Most of our day-to-day interactions with government come at the state and lower level. We can look back to the 2010 wave to see how effective majorities at the state level can push issues (Wisconsin, as the major example).
So, please, PLEASE write about local issues. Follow Virtual America. And lets start working change in both directions school board to Capitol Hill and beyond.