In all the mad rush surrounding this time of year bloggers at the 50 State community blogs are busy staying on top of local news. It's a bit shorter than last week, but should give you some good reading over the weekend.

A personal thank you to Karl for putting together a comprehensive roundup for us last week and for helping me pull together submissions for this week.

Here's your 50 State Blog Roundup for the week of December 21, 2007:

Illinois
   PSB poster bored now serves up an excellent updated analysis of the Dem candidate three-way for Denny Hastert's abandoned seat in IL-14. In IL-03: Lipinski wants to have his cake and eat it too

Maryland
   Maryland Republicans are suing to prevent recently passed tax legislation from going into law. Gotta give them points for moxie.

Texas
   Texas Democrats http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4528 pick up a Republican state house seat in a special election in Fort Worth. Dems are now only 5 seats away from regaining the majority!

Louisiana
   The REAL story out of New Orleans this week Also out of Louisiana: An Open Letter to Senator Barack Obama

California
   San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom doesn't like the new health plan, saying that he is not sure that the plan is "moving us toward our ultimate goal of affordable and quality care for everyone."

North Carolina
   Leslie H wrote a beautiful testimonial about why she supports John Edwards for president.

Minnesota
   Joe Bodell finds More Ramstad Color Envy? -- The spotlight is back on MN-03 congressman Jim Ramstad, who's considering going back on his declaration that he'll retire at the end of the current Congress.

Iowa
   Demoinesdem finds it sad that fellow Iowans complain about efforts to engage them politically. Also at Bleeding Heartland they report on more endorsements for Obama

New Hampshire
   John Edwards, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne rock New Hampshire.

Wisconsin
   Xoff at Uppity Wisconsin has an action plan to end the war.

Alabama
   At Left in Alabama there's a rundown of what happens when the pot and the kettle go to war.

New Mexico
   Senate candidate from New Mexico, Steve Pearce predicts US in Iraq for 50 years.

Arizona
   DUI? Expect the Max! Or maybe not. Zelph at AZ Netroots has more.

Michigan
   Yet more on the January 15th Michigan presidential primary.

Colorado
   SquareState has the good news that racist Tancredo out of presidential race.

Connecticut
   My Left Nutmeg wonders, Is Chris Dodd making a run for Majority Leader?

Georgia
   RIP Speaker Murphy

Idaho
   Larry Grant receives endorsement from United Transportation Union, 43rd State Blues reports.

Indiana
   Blue Indiana has Gubernatorial news

Kentucky
   BlueGrassRoots has Andrew Horne's announcement, plus gloating. Ditch Mitch!

West Virginia
   Is West Virginia really a "Judicial hellhole"? Learn the facts about Chamber of Commerce propoganda.

Washington
   At Washblog, Emily Stebbins tells about a cooperative organic farm, the Whatcom County Agricultural Workers Coopertiva Jacal.

Virginia
   Lowell sets WaPo's Tim Craig straight at Raising Kaine.

Vermont
   Green Mountain Daily has an excellent discussion going on in the comments of, Growth: Beyond Ponzi economics.

Alabama
   Quaor notes that Alabama is no longer rated as a "judicial hellhole" by the Chamber of Commerce. Is that really a good thing?

Florida
   Hillsborough County Elections Supervisor, Buddy Johnson, is dragging his feet on election law compliance.

Texas
   At Texas Kaos, Libby Shaw begins to outline why Texans deserve better than John Cornyn.

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   TennViews covers the launch of a website geared toward alternative transportation: Tennessee Smart Commute.

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South Dakota
   Badlands Blue covers a poll showing Senator Tim Johnson with a huge lead over Republican challenger Steve Kirby.

Rhode Island
   At Rhode Island's Future they're discussing what really drives the cost of education.

Pennsylvania
   Keystone Politics covers Senator Casey's first year at bat.

Maine
   Turn Maine Blue outlines why Maine and the rest of the country need Tom Allen in the Senate.

Massachusetts
   Blue Mass Group offers up another in its series of endorsements for president.