It would be possible to draw 4 GOP-leaning seats out of the 9 that MA will have following the 2010 Census. By GOP-leaning I mean that President Bush would have gotten between 47%-50% in 2004, which is a higher percentage than that of Simmons's and Shays's CDs in CT and about the same as Bass's, Bradley's and Johnson's CDs in New England. But, of course, only a GOP-majority state legislature would draw such districts---even if a nonpartisan commission drew the maps, it would likely draw 8 or 9 RAT CDs out of the 9.
Yeah, I remember you mentioned that before. I would think those would be remarkably contorted designs to get that many seats out of MA (although the current districts are fairly contorted as it is, so maybe they wouldn't be). But as I said, even if we had a shot at drawing the lines, the farm team is so scarce, along with the moribund party apparatus, that such an opportunity would be inherently squandered. It really is remarkable that the GOP was truly staging a comeback in the state only 16 short years ago, but it's like it has been sucked into a black hole ever since.