Sarah Palin may be sucking up most of the media oxygen right now in the national race, but she’s far from the only governor making political news this cycle. The latest (credible) polls out in the nation’s two most-competitive gubernatorial races, in Washington and North Carolina, show the Democratic and Republican candidates neck-and-neck.

In Washington, incumbent Democrat Christine Gregoire is in a rematch with Republican Dino Rossi, whom she “defeated” in a controversial 2004 recount by 133 votes. The latest Survey USA poll yielded a one-point Rossi edge, well within the margin of sampling error. In North Carolina’s open-seat race, the Democratic candidate, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, was up 1 over Republican Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory in two new polls, one by a Democratic firm, the other by a conservative research organization. A Survey USA poll earlier this week had McCrory up by 8, but the sample looks skewed (it also showed McCain up 20 points in the state, which is not credible). Essentially, both the Washington and NC races are deadlocked.

They’re also getting expensive, with independent expenditures playing a large role in the TV ad wars. The Washington contest has unique elements (still lots of references to the 2004 recounts) as well as commonalities with state campaigns around the country. Rossi is emphasizing the state’s economic woes, fiscal issues, education, and traffic congestion. Gregoire is blaming Bush for the economic downturn and trying to portray Rossi, a former state lawmaker, as extreme. The two will have their first televised debate on the 20th.

In North Carolina, the two hottest issues are offshore drilling (the Republican McCrory is 100% in favor, the Democrat Perdue was 100% but is now waffling clumsily) and school choice (Perdue is running ads alleging that McCrory favors a costly universal-voucher proposal, while McCrory responds that he is for means-tested choice programs only and that Perdue is a hypocrite for supporting state aid to students attending private preschools and universities). McCrory pretty clearly won their first three TV debates, but Perdue still enjoys a financial advantage going into the last weeks of the campaign. Both the Democratic and Republican governors associations are putting big money into the NC race. It’s a toss-up.

Democrats regained a majority of the nation’s governorships in 2006. With an expected takeover in Missouri, they would increase their edge to 29-21 unless the GOP candidates win either Washington or NC or both.