3) Why would southern whites vote for Republicans for federal office before they would for local office? Alabama and Mississippi didn't see the statehouses change over until the wave election in 2010, and it's hard to think that George W. Bush's track record with the economy is what won them over.
Sorry, I don't have time to address all the q's right now, but I've spoken in the past how (at the local level) dominance by one party completely eradicates viable opposition. Generations of this create a vacuum where no serious person even tries to run for the opposition party because they know it's (demographically) a lost cause. The outliers are those that can parlay local celebrity or influence to overcome that. It's why someone like 'Joe the Plumber' gets to run for a seat in Lucas county (a Democrat stronghold). That's a manifestation of a party that has been defeated for decades and are willing to try anything.
When presented with a binary choice, making the leap to another national candidate is much easier because you're presented with better quality candidates (presumably). At the local level, it takes many years for a party to start to get better candidates into their pool when they have been historically seen as losers.
