One thing which would change that ballance of power trifecta quickly would be for the Democrats to pick up New York and California governorships pronto.  New York is only one state senate seat away from swinging away from the Dark Side of the Force and in the last election the decision was decided by a handful of votes.  It is doable and can be made permanent.  In New York state almost all of the population loss has occurred upstate, in heavily Republican districts.  That has not been reflected in changes which have occurred in the changes in the US House seats or the state delegate and senate seats.  Sack Pataki and change that one state senate seat and the Democrats can make New York state's legislative allocation reflect what the state's voters truly believe.

New Jersey has a Democratic governor and legislature .

to change to the solid blue shade in 2006 or 2008 at the latest. We'll have a Democratic Governor, Assembly, and at worst a narrow deficit in the state Senate in 2006. We may yet capture the Senate but it will be close. We'll absolutely have the state Senate by 2008.

We'll also retain the Attorney General's job as we have a strong (and long) line up of candidates for that job and whichever one wins it'll be a quality person.

Nebraska's Unicameral is "Officially Non-partisan." But that doesn't really mean much. The Republicans have a big edge there.

phat

Attorney Generals, and Secretary of States, etc.  These offices are often stepping stones to the governor's races.

If there hope in the South, it is North Carolina. NC has always been one of the more progressive southern states, although they remain quite socially conservative. For example, they were once represented in the Senate by Jesse Helms and John Edwards. They have a Democratic trifecta, yet they also have no lottery, somewhat restrictive alcohol laws, and plenty of moral based legistlation on the books, including fornication laws and the famous "homewrecker" law.

If any state is beyond hope, it is South Carolina. Only two Democrats hold statewide office. The congressional delegation is 4-2. Wen John Spratt retires, the congressional delegation will probably be 5-1 and that 1 is the predominantly African-American 6th district.

Georgia went from a Democratic trifecta to a GOP trifecta in only two elections. Georgia is a classic example of the triumph of the backlash narrative combined with a complete collapse of the Democratic Party. Roy Barnes' tactless handling of the flag issue really hurt the Democrats at the polls. Saxby's infamous commercials didn't do Max Cleland in, Zell Miller did with his constant bashing of the Democratic Party. These two events have gutted the party in rural Georgia.

has a governor's race in 2006.

Mike Beebe, current attorney general, is our guy.

Here is a good shot to make Arkansas blue in both maps

is the saddest 'red' on this map.
The Dem state legislatures are so comfortable as to be non-existent and ineffective.

The governorship will have to be taken next time by a guy with better name recognition than "Bush":
Christ
Good fucking luck.

I was politically active up until 1998 and then I took a deep sleep until 04.  When I woke up from that coma, I was stunned, stunned to see how piss poor the democratic party was in this state.
This state, which should have been the ultimate motivation for Dems to retake it after 2000.
But no such luck.

Maybe with a new Dem head of this state will we make ground.  I will do my part, because I really believe FL is not a permanent red state.
Not even the panhandle.

In West Virginia Democrats control both Houses, so it should be Blue not Red.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has a handy chart with exact partisan composition of each legislature. Here it is.

My guess is we lose VA-Gov this year, giving Repigs complete control of Virginia. But, it's no done deal yet.

So, it seems to me that these are the states where we stand the best chance of takeover (no particular order):

1. Nevada

Open governor race should be competitive. Dems hold solid control of the House and are within two seats of the Senate. Long trending Democratic due to population booming and growth with Latinos and in Vegas. In another few years, should be a blue state.

2. New York

Democrat Eliot Spitzer will take the governor's race in a landslide. The House is so Democratic it's not even funny, and we only need five more Senate seats, which is doable with Spitzer coattails.

3. Michigan

Only need four more seats in the House and four more in the Senate to control each chamber. Only problem is that Dem Governor Granholm is very unpopular. Not as easy potentially as New York or Nevada.

4. Tennessee

True, we lost the Senate in 2004, but that was a bad year overall. We still have the House and a Governor who by all measures is a good bet for reelection. His coattails may bring us at least the single seat we need for Senate control.

5. Colorado

Colorado was very good to us in 2004, handing us a U.S. Senate seat, a U.S. House seat, and control of both chambers of the state legislature. All we need left is the governor's mansion to take absolute control of Colorado. And with a competitive open race expected, I'd say it's very possible.

6. Oregon

True, the Dem Governor is unpopular, just like Davis was in California and Locke in Washington, but Oregonians don't seem to trust many Republicans these days. After giving Gore a razor-thin margin in 2000, the Beaver State gave Kerry a respectable 4-point margin last year, while overwhelmingly reelecting Dem Senator Wyden. Dems are only four seats from taking the House, and have pretty good control of the Senate.

Also, if we can get nonpartisan redistricting on the Florida ballot, we could well see at least one chamber of the currently hideously gerrymandered state legislature go under Dem control, which is crucial to ensure that Republicans don't tighten their grip on Florida during the next redistricting cycle. I wish it were so easy in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, or Virginia.

West Virginia's legislature is overwhelmingly Dem. Blue, not red.

Oh, and BTW, how do you get those nifty maps?

The reason we have so much trouble gaining seats in Congress these days is because of redistricting. In 1996, 1998, and 2000, we gained seats in the House. But since 2002, we've lost seats in the House. Why? Redistricting took effect in 2002.

Quite simply, Republicans did amazing, effective gerrymanders in 2001 that they were never called on and at the same time managed to whine about our less ingenious, less effective maps.

The four largest swing states in the country, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, experienced GOP masterpiece maps. Florida's House delegation is now 72% Republican (yet Florida was split 49-49 in 2000 and only went 52-47 for Bush in 2004). Michigan's is 60% Republican, yet Michigan was won by Clinton, Gore, and Kerry. Ohio's is 67% Republican, yet Ohio was won by Clinton, was competitive in 2000, and was the state that decided 2004. And Pennsylvania's is 63% Republican, yet Pennsylvania, like Michigan, has not gone GOP since 1988.

Yet these gerrymanders went unpunished, while we were beaten up because of our only two real gerrymanders, Georgia and Maryland. We were stupid and weak, as usual. Georgia and Maryland, yes, were masterpieces, but their current delegations are actually much more representative of their political climates than those of FL, MI, OH, and PA.

But our stupidest move was out West. California, the biggest and most powerful state in the Union, had a Dem governor in 2001, meaning we had the trifecta there. We could have slaughtered them in California, and perhaps gotten something as much as a 38-15 delegation. Instead, we settled for a bipartisan incumbent deal, handing us only one more seat, for a fairly representative 33-20 Dem delegation. We could have been aggressive in Alabama, Connecticut, and Mississippi, too, if we wanted. Yet Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck (then a D, now an R) of Mississippi endorsed a map hurting Democrat Ronnie Shows, and helping Republican Chip Pickering. So, we lost a seat in Mississippi. North Carolina? We sort of gerrymandered it, but we could have gotten rid of Robin Hayes if we wanted to. West Virginia? No, no efforts to hurt Shelley Moore Capito. Just a nice little incumbent-helping plan. Meanwhile Republicans eked out every seat they could.

So, GOPers won the redistricting battles in 2001 by controlling and effectively mapping the four biggest swing states in the Union. They also had Virginia. We, meanwhile, gave up a chance to gerrymander the most coveted state, and some other states (Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Connecticut...) and instead settled for Georgia, Maryland, and sort of North Carolina. Well, they ended up gaining 8 seats in 2002, almost all as a result of redistricting.

And then, this mid-decade crap. They did Texas. GOP +5. Now Georgia, which could easily net them 1 seat, and MAYBE even 2. There are rumors that Missouri is next.

The problem is they gained a lot on the state level, and we must change that if we don't want them to keep these redistricting battles under their control.

After 16 years of Republican governors, Ohio is ripe to elect a Democrat.  Congressman Strickland and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman are both running.

The legislature will remain republican until Dems control the State Apportionment Board.