In many electorates, the party line wins - gorillas would win.
Cant beat this in a statistically significant manner.
That aside, voters at the local level get angry when stae of federal issues are used as a battering ram.
These aside, the more visible, sincere and hard-working the individual is with a passionate and articulate method of communicating his "involvement in the local area - the higher the credibilty values ascribed.
Hope this helped!
Frankly at the local level...it aint rocket science
