Over at Open Left, David Sirota makes a seamless transition from his perma-hawking of his new book into a diagnosis of why taking the New York State Senate matters to, literally, all Americans.

(Not as much as it would matter to buy his eminently prescient new book, but it matters).

[T]hat battle has national implications because of the size of New York's economy. Getting Democrats full control of the New York legislature and governorship means that one of the largest economies in the world - the one that encompasses Wall Street - would be regulated by a Democratic (and hopefully progressive) government. Bruno's retirement brings Democrats one huge step closer to that goal.

He's right. New York has the third-largest economy in the country, after California and Texas. Democratic control of the government gives us a chance to set regulatory standards that would, because of this state's sheer size, have impact far beyond our borders. The clustering of key industries - banking, finance, media, advertising, technology, transportation - would make that impact even more keenly felt in those sectors.

For too long, progressives have ignored state politics, with organizations and donors focused almost exclusively on Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, the Right has used its uprising of the 1970s and 1980s to focus intently on states.[...] Because there is no filibuster in state legislatures like there is in the U.S. Senate, New York could become the single most important arena of progressive change in America come 2009.

That last sentence is a key insight. While it's not necessarily true that Progressives have ignored state politics - I'd argue that Americans overall tend to be drawn to national elections because of our national propensity to expect silver-bullet, one-stop-shopping fixes to problems - we haven't paid as much attention to state politics as they warrant. We have a unique opportunity in this state this year, and a corresponding responsibility. Let's hope we live up to it.