How important is this year's gubernatorial election...

From Newmax.com

Barbour: Governorship Races Are Key to Long-term GOP Gains

By David A. Patten

Wednesday, 13 Oct 2010 01:19 PM

So many governorships are up for grabs that this year's midterms could have an "enormous" impact and may alter the political balance of power for a decade, according to GOP Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

In an exclusive Newsmax.TV interview, Barbour suggests this midterm election will be one of the most important in recent memory due the effect of the 2010 U.S. Census.

"The year I was elected in 2003, and reelected in 2007, there were only three governors races," says Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association. "In 2008 there were only 11. Last year there were only two. This year there are 37."

The winners of those 37 races may determine the outcome of future elections as well, due to the new political districts they will draw up.

"Because this is the year of the Census," Barbour says, "that means the governors elected this year will preside over redistricting."

History shows Barbour is right about the importance of winning elections in years that end in zero. After the 1990 Census, the GOP gained between 25 and 30 seats due to redistricting.

Without those seats, Fox News political commentator Karl Rove estimates, Republicans would have failed to gain control of the House in 1994.

And the pattern repeated itself after the 2000 Census.

The GOP controlled many governorships and state legislatures that year when the districts were redrawn. In the next two election cycles, an estimated 25 Democrats lost their seats in large measure due to the new demographics.

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