I'm shocked, shocked I tell you there's gerrymandering going on!!!

[dude1394]

I wonder if the texas dimocrats will join the pubs to help block this horrible re-districting. Chuckle.

http://www.mdjonline.com/articles/20...5/10138009.prt


Redistricting drama closing on its final act
By Kristen Wyatt

Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA - Georgia Democrats crafted a plan three years ago that they thought would guarantee their hold on power in the Legislature for at least a decade - a set of House and Senate maps designed to squeeze Republican votes and keep the ruling party sitting on top.

To say the plan backfired is putting it lightly.

Democrats lost the governor's office and the state Senate. A federal court threw out their maps. And a court-drawn map released Monday would throw dozens more Democrats out of office.

Now the party that had ruled Georgia since Reconstruction is looking for a last-minute strategy to tweak those federal maps, maybe the best chance they have to avoid ceding all of state government to the GOP.

House Democrats huddled Tuesday to figure out what to do about the court-drawn map that includes only 88 seats considered "safe" for Democratic candidates. That's three seats short of a majority. More than 40 sitting Democrats would have to run against fellow incumbents if the court map stands.

"Nobody's safe at this juncture," sighed Rep. Mickey Stephens (D-Savannah), who was lumped in a new district with another Democrat.

In a last-ditch effort to keep the court map from taking effect, Democrats plan to pass their own version in the House this week.

The Democrat plan would be significantly kinder to the ruling party, and party leaders hope they could cement support by recruiting some of the 25 House Republicans who would also be forced to run against fellow incumbents.

"The court map is not final," declared Rep. Carolyn Hugley, a Columbus Democrat and chairwoman of the Reapportionment Committee. Hugley has extra incentive to circumvent that court map - it throws her in a district with two of the most powerful and longest-serving House members, Reps. Calvin Smyre and Tom Buck.

It is unclear whether the judges would accept a new map. When a three-judge federal panel threw out the maps earlier this year - saying they were illegally gerrymandered to help Democrats - they asked the Legislature to redraw its districts by March 1.