Do you see any major shifts in the next decade?

[Verily]

Light blue and light red are happening slowly, darker blue and darker red are happeningly rapidly. In some cases the trend is irrelevant to the electoral college because the state is trending in the direction of its current orientation, though this is mostly true in Republican-trending states.

There are also degrees of trend; Indiana and Montana are slightly trending Democratic, but not nearly so much so as Nevada, which nonetheless is not even comparable to Virginia or Colorado or New Hampshire.

Overall, the trend of increasingly-populous Republican states combined with the slow trend of borderline states to the Democrats continues.

[Verily]

To say that MI could go republican is like saying that Illinois could go republican.  Both states were a win for Daddy Bush, and been Dem ever since.  MI has more republicans at the state level due to gerrymandering, but republicans are in a slump as far as anything statewide.  We have republicans on the state level who go to Lansing with only a fraction of the number of votes a Democrat receives in another disrict.  I forgot exactly what the numbers were, but Democrats won far more votes than republican in '06 for State Senate, but the Republicans are still in charge of that chamber.

This is a waste of time, but:

Michigan was close in 2000, 2002, and 2004.  Illinois almost went to Dukakis in 1988 and has been more and more Democrat ever since.  There can be no comparison.

I don't believe for a second that MI will be a blowout either way. I think it sitting on the Dem side of the fence, but it wouldn't take very much to push them over. I actually think PA is solidifying for the Dems, and OH remains the trickly little bastard it has been for the last God knows how long.

My belief is that with the Bush factor gone, MO, TX and AR becoming more competitive. Not that I think a Dem will win any (maybe MO).

For some strange reason, Bush reallys like visiting Missouri..every few weeks I hear about him visiting here, lol...

Missouri doesn't disapprove of Bush as much as the rest of the nation. The same was true during Clinton's dark days, we did not disapprove of him near as much as the rest of the nation.

MO and AR will likely be competitive in 2008, and Texas may give the Republican a smaller margin, but the Rethugican will still win easily.

James

Clinton never really had "dark days", either. The lowest his approval rating got was the mid-40s. (OTOH, you're also wrong that Missouri is giving Bush relatively good approval ratings; currently 35-62 by SUSA, which is within the margin of error of the national average.)

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=152d3ae8-1e4e-4dda-8adc-370b3f0125f4