The Wall Street Journal‘s Brody Mullins and Keith Johnson detail the Republican cash advantage in states crucial to redistricting:
Republicans and Democrats, hoping to pick up seats in Congress through redistricting, are pouring money and political muscle into statehouse races in about 16 states.
State legislatures will next year redraw congressional districts based on the 2010 census …
The key national organizations seeking to influence state elections will spend about $200 million this year, double what they spent in 2006, the most recent comparable contest.
The cash is allowing local candidates to adopt tactics more typically used by national politicians: time on cable TV, advanced polling techniques and direct mailings.
All this is playing out in Baraboo, Wis., where a tiny state-house campaign is being bombarded by money and advice from national organizations such as the AFL-CIO labor union, Planned Parenthood and a Republican group run by former White House strategist Edward Gillespie …
The Republican State Leadership Committee created the Redistricting Majority Project, whose sole purpose is “dedicated to keeping or winning Republican control of state legislatures that will have the most impact on Congressional redistricting in 2011.”
The state races can be critical in determining control of Congress.