General Discussion

SoCalDem

(103,856 posts) Mon Dec 10, 2012, 04:43 PM Dec 2012

..."Republican governors could redraw boundaries ...add at least another 15 members"...

Although the prediction that these 2010 wins would make it all but impossible for Obama to win in '12, was incorrect, it took a LOT of money & effort to overcome the shenanigans....and it took a lot of court fights too.

Republicans are relentless and cunning, and they did fulfill their goals of "being in charge" once again when it's time for redrawing those boundaries. They also saw to it that the secretaries of states in place were active in changing rules & regs to provide the most voting chaos possible.

There won't be another census until 2020, but part of any long-term plan for us should be to fight them toe-to-toe when it comes to sitting governors/secs of state.

We cannot afford to be complacent, and just hope that "the people" will elect a "fair" republican in those "blue" states that repeatedly seem to elect republican governors (Calif )

This is an old article, but Ole Hayley lays it out pretty bluntly..and it pretty much came to pass again in '12.. (except that Obama won)

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/08/131158449/gop-s-sweet-wins-in-governors-races-may-pay-off

After the results are known in the two remaining states, at least 29 governors will be Republican — and perhaps as many as 31. Democrats will hold no more than 20 and as few as 18. Republicans wiped out what was a 26-24 Democratic edge. More significantly, the Republicans broke the Democrats' grip on the "purple" battleground states — those that lifted President Obama to victory in 2008 and figure to be bellwethers again in 2012. How significant could this be? Consider: In 2008, Obama won eight of the swing states in part by relying on the popularity and political resources of those states' Democratic governors.

The RGA also focused on governors' races in the 15 states, including several of the bellwethers, that will gain congressional seats through reapportionment next year. In many, governors will oversee the once-a-decade redrawing of new congressional district boundaries based on census data. Reapportionment, in which representation in Congress shifts to reflect population changes across districts, is a key element to controlling the House, as well as the success of any president's agenda.

snip

Republicans won the governors' races in 11 of the 15 states slated to receive more seats in Congress. The RGA believes that Republican governors could redraw boundaries that might add at least another 15 members to the Republican House majority. "We wanted to control that process to ensure the Democratic governors didn't draw their members back into the majority in the House," says RGA Executive Director Nick Ayers. "That was our biggest pitch and plea to our donors — that if we can take presidential swing states, get Republican governors in there, we can build a Republican infrastructure."

snip