From hutchnews.com:

Experience and support for the new federal health care reform law are the defining issues in a Republican primary for Kansas insurance commissioner that will determine who holds the office for the next four years.

Republicans also must pick nominees in the Aug. 3 election for governor and attorney general, but each of those races has a candidate who’s expected to win easily.

In the insurance race, most Republicans expect incumbent Sandy Praeger, of Lawrence, to defeat insurance agent Dave Powell, of El Dorado. No other party has a candidate, meaning the outcome of the GOP race will determine whether Praeger keeps the office.

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Report Predicts Democrats Will Not Capture a Single Legislative Chamber; Republicans Will Take Four With 12 More ‘In Play’

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), through its REDistricting MAjority Project (REDMAP), announced the launch, today, of the first REDMAP Report, a state-by-state breakdown that explores the Republicans’ path to success in 2010 state legislative races. The report finds that, as of today, not only will Democrats not take control of a single state legislative chamber in 2010, Republicans will pick up at least four chambers with another 12 Democratically controlled chambers in play.

“There is little doubt that the political landscape continues to favor Republicans at all levels this election cycle. Voters are looking to Republicans who will move their states in a direction of smaller government and less spending and who will protect them from what is becoming the repeated Democrat over-reach,” said RSLC Chairman Ed Gillespie. “This report spells out how fragile Democrat majorities will quickly turn into Republican-led chambers resulting in common sense conservative policies.”

The report predicts Republicans will hold chambers such as the Texas House and Michigan Senate and will definitely pick up the Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana Houses and the Wisconsin Senate. Of the remaining 12 legislative chambers that are in play, if Republicans pick up only half, it will result in a net gain of 10 legislative chambers in states that are key for congressional redistricting.

“The Republican Party has an opportunity to impact the redrawing of dozens of congressional districts across the country following this election cycle,” said Tom Reynolds, Vice Chair of the RSLC and head of REDMAP. “In the end, we will see an effect that lasts for the next decade.”

According to National Public Radio’s June report, 33 of the 75 most competitive congressional districts are located in REDMAP targeted states this year. If REDMAP achieves its goals, nearly half of the traditionally swing congressional districts will be redrawn by Republicans before the 2012 election cycle. The remaining seats will either be subject to Democrat control or part of a partisan-neutral redistricting process.

“This year will not be a typical election cycle in terms of shift in partisan control,” the report concludes. “As of today, it appears that 2010 will be more successful for Republicans than 1982 was for the Democrats and could even rival the Republican successes seen on the state level in 1994.”

RSLC Chairman Ed Gillespie on Democrat Desperation – “They usually wait until October to tell voters Republicans are going to
eliminate social security and medicare.”

From The Hill:

Republicans are forecasting widespread gains for the party this fall in legislative chambers across the country, which could give the party control over the redistricting process in a number of key states.

Former RNC Chairman and current head of the Republican State Leadership Committee Ed Gillespie on Thursday predicted a minimum of 10 legislative chamber pick-ups for Republicans in 2010.

“This is the first time a wave election year is taking place in a year that ends in a zero,” Gillespie said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

“We plan on holding all of our chambers,” he said. “There are four states where we are very confident we’re going to win chambers–Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.”

Gillespie and RSLC Vice Chair Tom Reynolds singled out another eight states where chambers are in play this fall–Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Wisconsin.

If the party could win control of legislatures in at least half of those states, along with winning the other four, it would mark the largest number of Republican chamber pick-ups since 1994.

Along with the 37 gubernatorial races on the table in 2010, states legislatures are a major battleground in the fight over redistricting. In most states, legislative and gubernatorial races will end up determining which party has the upper hand when it comes to re-drawing district maps.

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