'Orphan states' key to control of the House

On September 22, 2012, the San Antonio Express News published the article,  'Orphan states' key to control of the House, by Richard S. Dunham.  In this article, Dunham writes about how Texas, California, New York, and Illinois are known as orphan states, which basically means the presidential candidates leave them alone unless they need money to be raised.  Even though these states are left alone, they are the key to filling the 30 empty seats up for grabs in the House.  At this time, there is a "fight for control of the House of Representatives" between the two political parties. 

Even though it seems like a no brainer that Texas would automatically assume the Republican seats in the House, times are changing.  With the changing of the majority race in Texas, the political views are also changing.  For example, Texas' 23rd district is in a tight "race in a majority-Latino district that is evenly divided along partisan line."  This just goes to show that Texas, along with all the other 'orphan states' should get more attention because times, races, and political views are changing.