NEW YORK — The Wall Street Journal has been following the housing crisis and foreclosure blues fallout with an eye to its possible political ramifications, noting that six of the 10 states with the highest foreclosure rates in the country are considered by leaders of both parties to be swing states.

Number two on the top 10 list is Florida, with one foreclosure for every 248 households and number seven Ohio, which has one foreclosure for every 319 households, according to a survey by RealtyTrac Inc., the California property-research company. The Sunshine State was ground zero in the 2000 election recount and Ohio (the Buckeye State) figured in the 2004 electoral column for Bush. Current thinking among the pundits has it that 2008 may prove to be a reversal for Republicans, thanks to the housing bust.

Considerations along those lines include: Some 11,000 Central Florida homeowners have already defaulted on their mortgages through August. Central Florida voted overwhelmingly for Bush in 2004 and a recession (now being spoken of in volumes above a whisper might swing voters the other way (to Democrats).