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February 19, 2004
Republican Senate Maps
I guess I just don't learn my lesson, but for some reason I never cease to be amazed by Republicans' ability to condemn something when Democrats do it and then go ahead and do it 10 times worse when they get the chance (and often at the same time).
I thought their most convincing argument regarding Democratic redistricting was that "voters should pick their representatives and not the other way around." It's a morally sound argument but I don't think it carries much sway with voters -- and neither do Republicans.
Their new Senate maps are prettier than the Democratic maps, but they break every single "principle" that the Democratic maps do and in one area go a lot further.
Sure, they've put opposition Senators in the same district as each other, notably rising stars David Adelman (D - Decatur) and Steve Henson (D - Tucker). But they went a step further -- they identified potential challengers in the current districts and drew them out entirely.
They don't want to fight it out with the Democrats' maps, but they don't want a fair fight either. Hopefully Murray Campbell, Gary McConnell, Clem Doyle and even Charles Walker will be able to slug it out regardless of what happens. It's not surprising.
During the first round of redistricting, Eric Johnson even said he didn't know why Democrats were drawing such partisan districts, conceding that Republicans hadn't been doing well in numerous competitive districts during the '90's. Well, I may question why Democrats needed to draw such inspired districts, but given Eric Johnson and the rest of the Republicans' history I don't have any doubts about why they have chosen to.
Posted by Chris at February 19, 2004 01:59 AM
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