I have a piece today in the Washington Independent about the most important races in the country nobody is talking about, at least relative to the foreclosure fraud scandal. Most consumer experts agree that the Attorney Generals investigation, which spans all 50 states, will have the best chance of getting remedies for homeowners. The leads in the investigation have said on the record that they are looking to force the banks into mass loan modifications, and raising the possibility of fraud prosecutions if the banks don’t comply. I believe this is one component of a successful strategy on foreclosure fraud. Criminal prosecutions should be on the table, but from a civil perspective, mass loan modifications with principal reductions would be a way to actually bounce back our economy and provide value to a large group of people.

The only problem is, a lot of these AGs have to survive re-election in order to continue with their work.

Consider this: Of the 12 state attorneys general on the executive committee of the coordinated investigation, only two of them — Roy Cooper in North Carolina and Rob McKenna in Washington — aren’t up for re-election this year. Several of them — Jerry Brown in California, Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut, Terry Goddard in Arizona, Andrew Cuomo in New York and Bill McCollum in Florida — are running for higher office and will not return to their posts. And other races are closely contested.

Currently, 32 of the 50 attorneys general across the nation are Democrats, to 18 Republicans. According to Governing Magazine, the GOP is poised to pick up anywhere from six to 13 of those seats after November, dramatically changing the makeup of the attorneys general across the country — and potentially the nature of their investigation.

In Ohio, the guy who sued GMAC Mortgage, Richard Cordray, is losing to Mike DeWine, the former Senator who voted pretty much down the line with Republicans on consumer issues while in the Senate. In Iowa, Tom Miller is leading the investigation, has been AG off and on since 1978 and has a sterling record on issues like consumer protection, and he’s in a neck-and-neck race against Steve King’s former chief of staff.

In open seats in Florida and New York, the Republicans running contrast themselves with two strong progressive Democrats, Eric Schneiderman and Dan Gelber, by definitively saying they don’t want to be a “sheriff,” directly citing Eliot Spitzer’s AG run against Wall Street. I would say a sheriff and a paddy wagon is what we need at this point.

So this is something to watch. Attorney General may not be at the top of the ticket, but it’s at the top of the list when it comes to the foreclosure fraud scandal. And the offices across the country may end up having a radically different focus by this time next week.