Gerrymandering: A Primer
The Republican Victory on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 has been called many things by many pundits and observers, and is not lacking for description by the media. But there has been a marked lack of recognition for what this election means in the long-term, and how it is being played out locally across the country. That’s what this series is [...]
The Insurance Policy
Our insurance policy deals with the state legislature and governor races' results of the November 2, 2010 election. Basically, it’s not a pretty sight for the liberals. There were 37 gubernatorial races decided Tuesday. Of those, the Democrats lost eight, and the Republicans gained seven. Prior to the election, Democrats held 26 seats, [...]
Power Dynamics
As of Tuesday, because they control both houses and the Governorship in 20 states, Republicans will have complete control over the gerrymandering of 182 seats in the US House. Democrats will only have complete control over 55 because of their absolute triumvirate. That leaves 198 districts that mixed states (states without triumvirates, [...]
The Farm Team
Those legislatures and Governorships we talked about in the previous post in this series represent the next generation of national politicians - not the current slate of Congressmen and Senators we elected Tuesday. Two, four, six, ten and more years from now, they will be playing major roles up to and including Presidential material. But two [...]
The Stacked Deck
We do not know how the newly elected Republicans will flesh out when they hit the ground in January. We do know that presumptive House Speaker Boehner is reaching a hand across the aisle – a move Conservatives abhor and Democrats have not done these last two years. It is suspicious to even air a combative tone of cooperation. My preference [...]
Electorally Speaking
So what does all this mean in 2012 and the years ahead? Gerrymandering is a process that takes place, usually, every ten years after the decennial census, which itself is mandated by the United States Constitution. So the state legislatures and Governors, in this next year, will map out the political landscape until 2021. If you remember [...]
Epilogue
As I was getting emails and text messages Wednesday morning from all over the country, celebrating and congratulating the victory of the Republicans, I was in a rather melancholy mood. I texted one friend and said, “Interesting gut feeling this morning: subdued, suspicious.” I couldn’t figure out why. Mid-day Wednesday, I realized [...]
