Gerrymandering , Gerrymandering , Gerrymandering

[edhopper]

and Gerrymandering.
All those who think it will be a shoe in for the Dems to retake the House in 14. Remember the Dems already got more votes for Congress than the Repugs. And States like PA and MI, where there is a bigger GOP delegation to Congress, the Dems got more votes.
So until gerrymandering is addressed, the Congress is staying Red.

Don't get cocky, we kicked their ass in 08 and it didn't last.

[aaaaaa5a]

1. The house is likely GOP until 2020. All thanks to gerrymandering. nt

[RomneyLies]

2. Never underestimate the power of the RWNJs to slit their own throats.

They handed us the Missouri and Indiana Senate seats on a silver platter by insuring the most RWNJ candidate possible was nominated in each race.

The long knives are already out to primary ALL of the current RWNJs with people even more extreme come 2014.

If we win the House back in 2014, it will be entirely due to the efforts of the teabaggers.

[Sadiedog]

3. Yep! I plan on researching this subject since I know very little about how it was accomplished.

I certainly hope there is away to undo this as it is atrocious!

[edhopper]

4. This interactive map

shows the extent of gerrymandering.

http://vfdemo.idvsolutions.com/districtmojo/

[Sadiedog]

6. Phew! Thanks for the link to the map!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. I tried to get peoples attention before the GOP abused the gerrymander after this last census.

Texas was once again a testing tool for the GOP's future plans. What they did to this state via gerrymandering in the previous decade was then implemented on other states after the 2010 census.

I think too few people actually understood what gerrymandering was, and how it was implemented, to understand the potential it had to skew a districts electorate from Dems to Republicans.

[Sadiedog]

7. I agree, I am sorry that I did not pay much attention to the subject myself! nt

[oldhippydude]

8. not sure what we could have done

I voted in 10......

[Redfairen]

9. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

We've allowed gerrymandering to happen. Progressives have watched it happen and not demanded change. Mobilizing to destroy this corruption has to be one of the great progressive causes between now and 2020. Redistricting reform has been successful in a handful of states. It just hasn't been tried in most of them. We have to get the ball rolling, and so far, we just haven't.

[bluestate10]

10. Progressives are part of the problem. Obama didn't get Single Payer, repeal DADT, eliminate

Bush tax cuts during the first 18 months of his first Administration, so Progressives went bullshit and decided to make democrats "pay" in the 2010 midterms. The "pay" is what we have now, crazed republicans in control of the House and deeply entrenched in some key Blue states.

[kwassa]

11. The Democrats gerrymandered here in Maryland

Took over a traditional Republican area of western Maryland with it, got another house seat out of it.

And had the district changes voted on, and accepted as a referendum during the general election.

[Swede Atlanta]

12. Totally agree....

We have to be patient and ensure we take back state houses and governor's mansions in time for re-districting after the 2020 census. Unfortunately that is 7 years away.

We may do well nationally but must realize that all politics is local and that is no more evident than in the re-districting that goes on every 10 years. Even in states that do not add or lose a congressional seat, re-districting to "respect the demographic changes of the past 10 years" occurs. If those making the decisions are pukes they will ensure they get the most out of the deal.

[Jenoch]

13. Whenever redistricting happens in my state,

it always ends up in the courts and neither party is pleased with the outcome.

By the way, the fact that Democratic candidates got more total votes in the entire country than did all of the republican candidates is a fairly meaningless statistic. It's not a 'winner takes all' system. The democrats won by larger margins and thus got more total votes. That does not help the democratic candidates in republican leaning districts.

Did you ever notice flocks of geese as they migrate in the spring or the fall? They fly in a "V" pattern. Frequently, one side of the "V" is longer than the other side? Do you know why one side is longer? More geese.

[edhopper]

15. What you discribe

is the result of gerrymandering.

[Jenoch]

16. Not really. It's more of a compromise put together by judges.

Gerrymmandering is when one party sets the district's boundaries to their satisfaction and to the detriment of the opposing party.

[edhopper]

18. Yes really

we ignore the evidence at our peril.

See reply #17 i.e.

[Jenoch]

19. You need to rethink this.

Gerrymandering is when district borders are manipulated to give one party an advantage over the other. When the birders are set by a panel of judges and both parties are pissed off, how is that gerrymandering? Don't get me wrong, attempts at gerrymandering are made by both parties. They both submit their plans but the last couple of times the legislature has been split so neither party has had enough power to get their way. They both file a lawsuit and the courts decide.

[edhopper]

21. Yeah, the courts

All those Reagan and Bush appointees, they'll be fair.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/11/the_supreme_court_may_gut_the_voting_rights_act_and_make_gerrymandering.html

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/11/07/how_ridiculous_gerrymanders_saved_the_house_republican_majority.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/the-gops-strong-texas-gerrymander/2011/06/02/AGP56VHH_blog.html

I think when a Blue State like PA has a 3 to 1 Rep advantage in Congress, logic dictates that something is wrong. And the evidence points to gerrymandering. You can ignore it all you want.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

14. So we know that repukes participate in gerrymandering... I wonder current districts

democrats hold because of blue gerrymandering. Maybe dems are reluctant to raise the flag on it because a few of their own districts might get caught in an investigation.

So I'm curious as to how many dem districts are blue thanks to gerrymandering. (?) There must be at least few.

[farminator3000]

17. watch out for gerry and the mander-makers!

Republicans in Pennsylvania, however, took a state that is two or three points more Democratic than the country as a whole, and created 12 districts (out of 18) that are more Republican than the country as a whole. They did so by creating what can only be called a group of Rorschach-inkblot districts in southeastern Pennsylvania.

The net result is a map that shores up their vulnerable incumbents, and that may well result in a 14-4 Republican edge by the end of the decade.

To see how this works, take a look at the following two charts.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/12/14/in_pennsylvania_the_gerrymander_of_the_decade_112404.html

[MadrasT]

20. Those assholes. This is my fucking district now.

Welcome to PA-7.