"Big stakes put small towns on political map" by Lois Romano, Washington Post | July 26, 2010
WASHINGTON — In any other election cycle, the 27-year-old rookie Eli Evankovich, an accountant and farmer from a tiny town in western Pennsylvania, would barely register with political leaders in the state capital, never mind nationally. But this year, money will be thrown at his campaign against an incumbent Democrat, volunteers will show up at his farm, and polls, a rarity in state legislative races, will be taken....
The reason: Next year, state legislatures will take up redistricting, the once-a-decade task of redrawing congressional boundaries based on population shifts gleaned through the census.
Redistricting plays a central political role every 10 years, but the stakes seem particularly high this cycle. In Pennsylvania and elsewhere, Republicans see an opportunity to improve their prospects for winning back Congress and controlling it for years by shaking loose the Democrats’ grip on state governments.
Some of the biggest names in politics have jumped into the hand-to-hand combat with an intensity generally reserved for a presidential race.
Among those at the forefront: Ed Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee; former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican from Georgia; Democratic strategist Harold Ickes; GOP strategist Karl Rove; and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat.
What a motley crew, 'eh?
The national operations are targeting about 100 competitive races in narrowly divided statehouses, in little-known communities such as Chimney Rock, Wis., and Murrysville, Pa.....
They are recruiting national lawyers and setting up intricate networks to provide cash and expertise. Collectively, partisan special-interest groups, labor unions, and state organizations have estimated they will spend upward of $200 million on state legislative and gubernatorial races, an unprecedented sum.
Well, at least the political consultants won;t have to worry about unemployment or foreclosure.
“Having control of a legislature can translate into US House seats being drawn for Republicans for a decade — compared to fighting it out district by district for control of the House every two years, which would costs millions,’’ said Gillespie, who is chairman of the Republican State Leadership Committee, which as the main GOP group focused on state races hopes to raise $40 million for this election cycle.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has doubled its fund-raising goals to $20 million and spent the past several cycles quietly increasing majorities in legislatures across the country.
The party also established the National Democratic Redistricting Trust to handle the inevitable complex legal challenges to redistricted maps, and Foundation for the Future, a largely union-supported entity, to provide strategic and technical support to legislatures.
Ickes, a longtime adviser to Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, is raising money for Democratic governors. The 37 gubernatorial contests this year are crucial, as the chief executive in most states has the power to veto maps the legislatures propose.
“I started to make the case to donors three years ago that the races that impact reapportionment will matter for the next decade. . . . These governors will oversee redistricting,’’ said Nick Ayers, a rising political star as executive director of the Republican Governors Association, which has raised a record $28 million this year in part because of redistricting.
Democrats control both legislative chambers in 27 states, and Republicans control both in 14. Power is split between the two parties in eight states. Nebraska has only one chamber, and its members are technically nonpartisan.
In most states, the party that controls the political process controls the redistricting map. The goal is to create congressional districts based on voter registration data.
The power to tailor district lines to partisan demographics could offer either party an advantage of 16 to 35 seats in Congress, redistricting experts say.
My history books called that gerrymandering and implied it was bad.
Btw, readers, the term originated in Massachusetts.
What an embarrassing PoS state in which I reside.
Gillespie estimates that legislative races in 16 states could effectively control the redrawing of districts for nearly 200 congressional seats. Among the battleground states slated to lose or gain congressional seats, and where at least one chamber holds a fragile majority, are Michigan, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Nowhere is the intensity felt more than in Pennsylvania, which could lose a couple of seats because of population losses, making each party desperate to have a voice when the boundaries are redrawn.
Democrats are trying to hold on to the House and the governorship at a time when the western part of the state has been trending Republican.Just like the whole country after 4 years of failed Democrat rule.
With the state Senate likely to remain Republican, and the gubernatorial race a tossup, Democrats’ best hope is for a strong showing in the eastern part of the state.
That didn't save Arlen Specter.
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