Blue-state budget crises spell more trouble for Democrats

The Washington Post reports:

Following the midterm elections, attention understandably focused on those parts of the South and Midwest where the Obama coalition collapsed. But a second wave of trouble is coming for the president and his party, precisely in those states where the first wave barely reached. Having experienced the revolt of red America, Democrats must now deal with the fiscal crisis of blue America.

While massive state budget shortfalls are not limited to predominantly Democratic states, they are concentrated in them. "In California and New York," says John Hood of the John Locke Foundation, "the fiscal crisis flirts with bankruptcy." Explanations include rising Medicaid costs, increased spending on higher education and the long-term challenge of funding public pensions. At the same time, says Hood, "All the major sources of revenue have cratered." The states doing worst are the ones, such as California and New York, that had irresponsible budgets going into the recession. States that were fiscally responsible during good economic times, such as Indiana, have had a softer landing.

Blue America is less than fiscally sound in many cases.