Insurance insiders mostly content with state election results.

Unlike in past elections, when new crops of freshman regulators arrived at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to take part in the decision-making process, this year's election largely seems the thing insurance lobbyists' dreams are made of.

Among insurance commissioner races, gubernatorial elections and key state supreme court contests, most worked to the benefit of the insurance industry and its wish to both streamline the way business is clone across the country and put in place laws to protect consumers.

"Unlike the last election, where there was a lot of shakeup and significant changes that occurred as a result of the gubernatorial races, and we had to begin again the process of educating the new commissioner about our position on regulatory modernization, this year you saw incumbents" keeping their seats, said Bruce Ferguson, a senior vice president with the American Council of Life Insurers.

With the exception of one newcomer, four out of the five insurance commissioner contests resulted in members of the NAIC retaining their posts, including Republican Jim Poolman of North Dakota; Republican John Morrison of Montana; Democrat Mike Kreidler of Washington state; and veteran commissioner Jim Long of North Carolina, a Democrat who won his sixth term.

Of the state commissioners selected directly by voters, the only new face this year is Democrat Matthew Denn of Delaware, successor to Republican Donna Lee Williams, who chose not to seek re-election. Denn, former counsel to Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, used women as a weapon to winning with his "Women For Denn" organization, which included women from each of the state's 41 representative districts, who helped to raise awareness and money for his campaign.

The hope among insurance industry officials is that Denn will be willing to work with them.

"We have good working relationships with" the current regulators, said Joseph Annotti, vice president of public affairs for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. "There are some very positive things to having consistency in the regulatory office," he said. However, new members have been known to "come in with their own agendas, and it takes the momentum away."

Other influences come with the election of new governors in the six states where commissioners are appointed. Similar to the commissioners' contests, the gubernatorial outcomes saw no big surprises, but a chance for turnover in some commissioner posts is imminent--in some cases for the best, as far as insurers are concerned.

In Missouri, a state which trade officials consider to be a battleground in the debate over credit-based insurance scoring, Republican Matt Blunt defeated Claire McCaskill, who won in the June Democratic primaW over industry-unfriendly Gov. Bob Holden. A new commissioner also is likely to be appointed in Indiana, where Republican Mitch Daniels won over Democrat Joseph Kernan, who had assumed the post following the death last year of Gov. Frank O'Bannon.

The state has long been known as being unfavorable to the industry's views on reforming state regulation, said Neil Alldredge, state affairs director of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. "To say that we are glad to have the prospect of a new commissioner would be understating it," Alldredge said.

As for governors' contests, no change in party likely equates to existing insurance commissioners retaining their positions in Utah, West Virginia and Vermont, where the respective winners were Republican Jon M. Huntsman Jr.; Democrat Joe Manchin III; and Republican Jim Douglas.