7 Governor's Races to Watch

Governor’s seats are up for grabs in 37 states today, and Republicans look poised to win loads of them—which could have a profound impact when it comes time to redraw district lines. This Huffington Post tally shows 29 seats held by or leaning toward Republicans, to 16 for Democrats. And Reuters breaks down the key races thusly:

• California: Jerry Brown has pulled decisively ahead of Meg Whitman, thanks in part to this incident. (Check out our full grid on the race here.)
• Florida: When Democrat Alex Sink was running the state pension fund, it took huge losses. When conservative Rick Scott was running the Columbia/HCA hospital chain, it was embroiled in the largest Medicare fraud case in history. The result: Tie game!
• Ohio: Ex-congressman John Kasich is still favored to oust incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland, but Strickland has been gaining ground quickly, bashing Kasich for his work on Wall Street.

• Texas: Rick Perry has such a solid lead, that he's refused to debate his opponent at all. The results could be huge, because Texas will gain four seats in redistricting, the most of any state.
• Illinois: Obama’s home state tends to go blue, but Republican Bill Brady has Pat Quinn on the ropes. Maybe Quinn needed more ads like this one. Or the opposite of that.
• Rhode Island: A chaotic four-way race, which grabbed the national spotlight when Obama refused to endorse Democrat Frank Caprio—who told Obama he could "take his endorsement and really shove it”—out of loyalty to ex-Republican Lincoln Chafee.
• New York: Carl Paladino has generated headlines. Oh so many headlines. But not support; Andrew Cuomo had a 25-point lead in the most recent poll.

(More Election 2010 stories.)