The benefit the Republicans have is geography and redistricting. There is a very small window for Democrats to take advantage of.
Quotes about redistricting (16 Quotes)
If you ask the people who are professional political analysts, they would say that the way redistricting has worked, that the Republicans have something of a lock on the House until a redistricting occurs after 2010, particularly as a result of what DeLay did in Texas.
Racially balanced isn't the term that our board uses but it does have a policy that clearly states that when we do a redistricting we should not affect the diversity of a school any more than is necessary when drawing a line.
They see the system there to be manipulated so that they can use it to climb the political ladder, ... Meanwhile, Doolittle's got a dam in his district that's been authorized for 20 years and he can't get a dime for it. He is that inept. This is a major reason we want redistricting.
I view it in terms ... as I would the Bible for African-American politicians, when you look at the 1992 elections and the redistricting,
In focus groups, we found that 90 percent of both Republicans and Democrats wanted to vote on (the redistricting plans). If you give this power to the people, the plan will pass any muster.
Redistricting is one of the purest actions a legislative body can take.
There are large national movements afoot about redistricting and union dues that are looking to this referendum ... for momentum. If either measure wins or loses, it will have dramatic consequences for whether these national movements move ahead or get stopped in their tracks.
Redistricting is a deeply political process, with incumbents actively seeking to minimize the risk to themselves (via bipartisan gerrymanders) or to gain additional seats for their party (via partisan gerrymanders).
The court itself is unclear on what direction it is going to take in these redistricting cases. Texas may clarify the confusion.
From the very beginning, this redistricting has been about racial balance. Should children be assigned to schools based on skin color That decision was made early on in this process.
From the impeachment of a sitting President, to the recount in Florida, to opportunistic redistricting efforts in Colorado and Texas, and now in the recall effort in California, a narrow band of right-wing ideologues have subverted the democratic process whenever they haven't liked the outcome.
So the - the part of the problem is not just the rhetoric. It's the fact that we - we're so polarized in what we've done to each other as parties over the last thirty years in redistricting that it's very, very hard to overcome your own constituencies and move to the middle.
In the House, Republican prospects have been buoyed by several successful rounds of redistricting, which have sharply reduced the number of competitive seats and given the Republicans a national advantage of at least a dozen seats.
Amy Walter, who tracks House elections for Cook, said, Republicans have done a good job building these levees, but we haven't seen them tested in a Category 5 storm. ... The annals of redistricting are replete with stories of parties that thought they drew themselves into safety but got blown away.
The good news for Republicans is we will control more seats at the redistricting table than any other time since the 1920s,