What can we say about the races coming this year?

I did a little analysis of the politicl race lineup so far this year. Granted, it may change and there may be a few more candidates coming out of the woodwork. But for all the Democrats bluster, there are still quite a few gaps to be filled. Check out the Senate races filed so far:

District	Chamber	Party	Name
1	Senate	Democratic	Hanson, Gary D.
2	Senate	Democratic	Hundstad, Jim
3	Senate	Republican	Latterell, Isaac
3	Senate	Republican	Sutton, Duane Ormun
4	Senate	Democratic	Peterson, Jim
4	Senate	Republican	Diedrich, Larry
5	Senate	Democratic	Turbak, Nancy J.
5	Senate	Republican	Arnold, Dennis
5	Senate	Republican	Konold, Claire B.
6	Senate	Republican	Greenfield, Brock L.
6	Senate	Republican	Holbeck, James
7	Senate	Democratic	Widvey, Harold
7	Senate	Republican	Smidt, Orville B.
8	Senate	Democratic	Sutton, Dan
8	Senate	Republican	Toates, John
9	Senate	Democratic	Spader, Duane
9	Senate	Republican	Dempster, Tom
10	Senate	Republican	Abdallah, Gene G.
10	Senate	Republican	Alvine, Frank
11	Senate	Constitution	Bartlett, D. Scott
11	Senate	Republican	Gant, Jason M.
12	Senate	Republican	Earley, William F.
13	Senate	Republican	Kelly, Dick
14	Senate	Constitution	Scott, William L.
14	Senate	Republican	Knudson, Dave
15	Senate	Democratic	Koetzle, Gil
16	Senate	Republican	Albers, Kenneth D.
17	Senate	Democratic	Nesselhuf, Ben
17	Senate	Republican	Adams, Nathan J.
18	Senate	Republican	Hunhoff, Jean
19	Senate	Democratic	Kloucek, Frank J.
20	Senate	Republican	Olson, Ed
21	Senate	Republican	Garnos, Cooper
22	Senate	Republican	Hansen, Tom
23	Senate	Republican	Duenwald, Jay L.
24	Senate	Republican	Gray, Bob
25	Senate	Republican	Kooistra, Clarence
26	Senate	Democratic	Simpson, John J.
26	Senate	Republican	Koskan, John
27	Senate	Democratic	Two Bulls, Theresa (Huck)
27	Senate	Republican	Hanrahan, Craig L.
28	Senate	Democratic	Emery, Steve
28	Senate	Democratic	Maher, Ryan
28	Senate	Republican	Klaudt, Ted A.
28	Senate	Republican	Wetz, Kenneth
29	Senate	Republican	McNenny, Kenneth
30	Senate	Democratic	Ratliff, Catherine
30	Senate	Republican	Lintz, Jim
31	Senate	Independent	Ballert, Karen
31	Senate	Republican	Apa, Jerry
32	Senate	Republican	Adelstein, Stanford M.
32	Senate	Republican	Schwiesow, Elli
33	Senate	Democratic	Finch, Dennis
33	Senate	Republican	Duniphan, J.P.
33	Senate	Republican	Schmidt, Dennis
34	Senate	Republican	McCracken, Royal "Mac"
35	Senate	Republican	McCoy, Alice L
35	Senate	Republican	Napoli, William "Bill"

By my count, I'm seeing 4 Senate races that the GOP has yet to field a candidate for. As of tonight, it's 31 out of 35 - and that isn't bad! I suspect one or two of those will be filled by next Tuesday. But compare that to the SDDP's efforts.

As of tonight, they've got 15 of 35 candidate slots filled for the Senate. Sure, we'll likely see another 5 or so come in - but if it isn't any more than that, it leaves a devastating gap in their Senate efforts.

The surest way to lose an election is to not run. And if they're not going to field candidates in 12-15 races, they can expect to remain in the minority. And it gets even worse for the House:

District	Chamber	Party	Name
1	House	Democratic	Halverson, Clayton
1	House	Democratic	Sigdestad, David
2	House	Democratic	Dennert, H. Paul
2	House	Democratic	Elliott, Burt
2	House	Democratic	Graham, John
3	House	Democratic	Black, Thomas E.
3	House	Republican	Novstrup, Al
3	House	Republican	Novstrup, David
4	House	Democratic	Street, Steve
4	House	Republican	Nosbush, Mary E.
4	House	Republican	Rausch, Val
5	House	Democratic	Mittelstedt, Rich
5	House	Republican	Faehn, Bob
5	House	Republican	Koistinen, Al
6	House	Republican	Nelson, Paul
6	House	Republican	Noem, Kristi
6	House	Republican	Stormo, Samantha
7	House	Republican	Pitts, Carol A.
7	House	Republican	Tidemann, Larry J.
8	House	Democratic	Gassman, David B.
8	House	Democratic	Lange, Gerald F.
8	House	Republican	Olson, Russell
9	House	Democratic	Engels, Richard A.
9	House	Democratic	Roberts, Elaine A.
9	House	Republican	Dressen, Katy
9	House	Republican	Peters, Deb
10	House	Republican	Hunt, Roger
11	House	Republican	Weems, Keri K.
11	House	Republican	Willadsen, Mark K
12	House	Democratic	Kniffen, Gregory
12	House	Libertarian	Anderson, John I.
12	House	Republican	Henkin, Ann
12	House	Republican	Steele, Manny
13	House	Democratic	Blake, Susan
13	House	Democratic	Thompson, Bill
13	House	Republican	Heineman, Phyllis M.
14	House	Democratic	Feinstein, Marc
14	House	Republican	Cutler, Joni
14	House	Republican	Tornow, R. Shawn
15	House	Democratic	Glenski, Mary
15	House	Democratic	Miles, Kathleen
15	House	Republican	Allis, Gregory P.
16	House	Republican	Dykstra, Joel D.
16	House	Republican	Lederman, Daniel
17	House	Democratic	Norin, Patricia A.
17	House	Democratic	Nygaard, Eldon E.
17	House	Republican	Boomgarden, Jamie M.
17	House	Republican	Schafer, Donna
18	House	Democratic	Gleich, Robert J.
18	House	Democratic	Moore, Garry A.
18	House	Republican	Gilson, Charlotte "Charlii"
19	House	Libertarian	Martin, Alexander
19	House	Republican	Jerke, Gary
20	House	Democratic	Steele, Susan N.
20	House	Republican	Carson, Lance A.
20	House	Republican	Vehle, Mike
21	House	Democratic	Kastner, Diane L.
21	House	Republican	Deadrick, Thomas J.
21	House	Republican	Juhnke, Kent
22	House	Democratic	Burg, Quinten L.
22	House	Democratic	Hargens, Dale
22	House	Republican	Haeder, Joshua R
23	House	Republican	Davis, Justin J.
23	House	Republican	Hackl, Tom
24	House	Republican	Olson, Ryan P.
24	House	Republican	Rounds, Tim G.
25	House	Democratic	Kroger, Mike
25	House	Republican	Ammon, Greg
25	House	Republican	Rave, Tim
26A	House	Democratic	Lucas, Larry J.
26B	House	Democratic	Glover, Thomas J.
27	House	Democratic	Bradford, Jim
27	House	Republican	DeVries, Mark
28A	House	Democratic	Van Norman, Thomas J.
28A	House	Republican	Hunt, Everett
28B	House	Republican	Drown, Bob
28B	House	Republican	Olson, Betty
29	House	Republican	Brunner, Thomas J.
29	House	Republican	Hunter, Ray
29	House	Republican	LaRue, Maurice
29	House	Republican	Rhoden, Larry
30	House	Democratic	Bloomer, Jerry
30	House	Democratic	Brown, Franz K
30	House	Democratic	Hanson, Rick
30	House	Republican	Howie, Gordon
30	House	Republican	Pederson, Gordon
31	House	Democratic	Paris, Dinah
31	House	Republican	Hills, Tom
31	House	Republican	Turbiville, Charles M.
32	House	Democratic	Hemmingsen, Pamela K
33	House	Republican	Buckingham, Michael
33	House	Republican	Van Etten, Don
34	House	Republican	Lust, David
34	House	Republican	McLaughlin, Ed
35	House	Democratic	Wudtke, Laurie
35	House	Republican	Gunderson, Dale E.
35	House	Republican	Haverly, Jeffrey
35	House	Republican	Hendrickson, Lyle
35	House	Republican	Kirkeby, Mark

As of tonight, Dems have 36 seats conested of 70 total. The GOP is missing a few here and there, and I expect many of those to come in, likely excepting districts 1,2 & 15. Again, if you are only putting up candidates for half of the races, don't expect to take control of a chamber.

As mentioned before, there are still a great number of legislative seats left to fill, and we can expect quite a few petitions to come in over the cource of the next week. But unless numbers move significantly, don't expect a turnover in Legislative control this next fall.

If this trend continues, the chess pieces may change shape, but come next January, expect that the GOP will be fully in control of the board.