Redistricting and Rick vs. Kay...

Redistricting is coming up, which makes the 2010 election even more critical. Some interesting thoughts on redistricting (link). Excerpt follows...

While the 2010 congressional elections will determine the Congress for the second part of Obama's term, these state elections will shape the make-up of the U.S. House and many legislatures for the next decade.

So while Republicans will face an uphill battle to win back the House and Senate next year, a strong GOP showing in state races could help them to regain control of the House later in the decade.

That's because those results will determine how congressional and legislative seats are reallocated as a result of the population shifts in the 2010 census. In turn, they could enable the party that controls a state's political machinery to strengthen itself, as Texas Republicans did after the 2000 census.

The Lone Star State remains a good example of how this works, largely because it could gain as many as four U.S. House seats from population growth.

While much of that increase is in heavily Hispanic areas, which mostly vote Democratic, continued GOP legislative control could enable Republicans to protect, or even bolster, their current 20-12 majority.

And even if the Democrats managed to win one legislative house, they'd have a hard time denting the GOP hold on the five-member Legislative Redistricting Board, the five top officials who can reapportion if the legislature fails to act.

As Republicans, we know Rick will go to the mat for us because he has done that before at great cost to his own political reputation. He called special sessions of the legislature to get it done. I am not so sure we can count on Kay to stand strong against the Democrats who will try their usual tricks if they don't get their way. Kay is more likely to cave to the pressure to avoid controversy... building consensus above doing the right thing... I think Rick's peeps ought to get this out there more in the grassroots. When this topic comes up to Republican activists I know, they always give Rick major kudos for going out of his way to help redistrict more Republicans into place and make the state more accurately reflect the partisan composition of the state.