So I was looking through the website of the National Conference of State Legislatures, and came across the breakdown of parties in each state legislature. I seem to recall the GOP making gains in these kind of elections in the south, but I noticed Alabama & Mississippi -- two of the states that seemed to be tilting strongly-GOP nationally -- still have Dem majorities in their House & Senate. In some cases, somewhat comfortably (Dems control Alabama's Senate 25-10).
OK, me being a northerner who's intrigued -- yet still somewhat uneducated -- about southern politics, could anyone tell why the Dems keep holding on to majorities in states like those two, along with a few others (ie. Arkansas, Louisiana)? Are these old-line Dem voters still voting "D" locally but going for the GOP statewide & nationally? Are the local Dems more conservative? Is this a fluke because of some local issue/scandal?
Also, in case anyone's wondering, my home state of Wisconsin is a bit of an oddity as well: Dem Governor & Senators, Dem votes for President since '92, yet the GOP is solidly in control of the Assembly and decently in control of the Senate. Seems to be more because of the GOP framing of local issues (property taxes) & the desire in this state for split control of government, but a bit odd nonetheless.
BTW, here's the site I got the numbers from, in case anyone's wondering:
http://www.ncsl.org/ncsldb/elect98/partcomp.cfm?yearsel=2005