Most people, involved in politics or not, have some confusion over what local, state, and national governments do. There are anecdotes of a voter asking a township supervisor what he is going to do about the failing school system or where the mayoral candidate stands on abortion. If you’re a Democrat running in a Republican municipality there are going to be a host of issues that you can avoid and other issues that you can talk about that make is nearly as likely for a died in the wool Republican to cross party lines and vote for the Democrat as it would be for them to stick to their Republican slate.