We already have the primary battlegrounds changing, as states rush to move their dates up earlier. Now we got George Will saying that Republicans need to give up on Ohio in 2008:

In the last 24 elections, since 1912, winners of the presidency won a plurality of the states along the Mississippi. Today the Republican presidential candidate with perhaps the most impressive resume says:

Republicans should assume that in 2008 they will lose Ohio (20 electoral votes), where the state party’s corruption and incompetence cost it the governorship, a U.S. Senate seat and a House seat in 2006. So the GOP candidate must carry Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota (27 electoral votes). In 2004, George W. Bush narrowly carried Iowa and narrowly lost Wisconsin and Minnesota, the only state that has voted Democratic in eight consecutive elections.

For once I agree with Will. Since the Democrats took over state offices this year, Ohio has made numerous changes for the better. Bob Taft had the lowest approval rating of any governor in the country. Today Ted Strickland holds one of the highest approval ratings. The Ohio GOP is working to try and polish up their image, but it will take more than a couple of years to do that. They became too corrupt and now will pay the price for it.