Three states held elections in 2007 for the Office of Attorney General.   The offices in all three - Ky, La, and Ms - have been held by Democrats since as long as anyone can remember and the 2007 results did not produce a party change.  Of particular significance is that all three Democratic candidates trounced their opponents by at least 20%.   In other words, despite millions of dollars being spent and two new faces, the party identification of the AG remains the same. This phenomenon puzzles me in part because the these same voters have been chosing Republicans for virtually every other elected position.   In La and Ms, the AG is now the only statewide official who is a Democrat.

In other states, the situation seems exactly reversed.   In Pennsylvania, a blue state that is getting bluer, the AG has always been a Republican.  In the blue states of Michigan and Washington, conservative GOP AG's enjoy strong popular support.

My long held theory is that the voters like an independent attorney general and tend to split their votes for that position far more than any other, but I may be wrong.  Perhaps there is no trend and these races are decided based on the tone and the personalities of individual candidates.   At the present time there are eighteen states where the AG and the Governor are of differing parties, but is that number high or low? 

I just don't know.