U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., speaks to a crowd a Republican Party

Divided government still rules in the nation’s capital after last week’s Tuesday’s vote, but unity is increasingly the name of the game in cities such as Annapolis, Topeka, Concord and Little Rock.

In a little-noticed footnote to last week’s election, state legislature elections this year have produced the highest number of states with one-party rule in 60 years. Democrats or Republicans now have sole control of the governorship and both legislative chambers in 37 state capitals around the country.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which tracks party representation in the country’s 50 state governments, Democrats now control all three bases of power — the governorship and both houses of the state legislature — in 14 states and Republicans in 23, with only 12 states sharing power. (Nebraska’s unicameral legislature is considered nonpartisan.)

Regional power bases are also emerging, with Democrats increasingly dominating state governments across New England.

Conversely, after last week’s vote, the GOP for the first time since 1872 now controls the Arkansas House and Senate. Just 20 years ago, Republicans didn’t have a majority in a single legislative house in the states of the old Confederacy — now they control all 11.

The number of states with divided government is down from 31 just 16 years ago to 12 today, prompting speculation on the country’s evolving partisan geography.

“I think it is a reflection of a growing ‘sorting-out’ of our population — where people live — and our politics,” said Karl Kurtz, a political scientist at the NCSL. “They tend to go all the same way for governor, for legislator and — for that matter — for president.”

Bill Bishop, author of the book “The Big Sort” on the growing polarization of American politics, said, “There are mores states that have tipped either increasingly Republican or Democratic over time. Even in close elections you have a majority of voters who live in counties where the election wasn’t close at all. The world they see at their doorstep is different than the rest of the country.”

With state legislatures often seen as by the parties as the “farm team” for recruiting national candidates, both Republican and Democratic party officials were trying to...

Read more: Rising number of states seeing one-party rule - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/10/rising-number-of-st... 

Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter