Posted on 01/25/2004 5:25:02 AM PST by Theodore R.
Redistricting doesn't stop Democrats Thursday, January 22, 2004
The re-redistricting bomb that U.S. Majority Leader Tom DeLay dropped on white Texas Democrats in Congress was huge. However, all but two have filed for re-election anyway.
Wouldn't it be ironic if several won?
Ralph Hall of Rockwall switched to the Republicans, whom he'd been with for years in all but the initial after his name, anyway. And Jim Turner of Crockett decided not to run again. With $1 million in his campaign bank, he says he might run for governor or the U.S. Senate in 2006.
But the main Democrats targeted by DeLay, Gov. Rick Perry, Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst — including Lloyd Doggett of Austin, Chet Edwards of Waco, Martin Frost of Arlington and Charlie Stenholm of Abilene — are bent, not broken.
And they're not broke. The least-heeled of the eight white Democrats in September was Chris Bell of Houston, with about $160,000 to run in a strongly Democratic district into which he's moving. He already represents much of the new district.
The richest was Doggett, with $2.2 million in the new 25th District that stretches to the Mexican border. That's more than enough to run a competitive campaign outside the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston media markets.
Perry said the furor over redistricting would blow over. But hot congressional races, coupled with a presidential election with some fairly high passion, could provide some surprises in 2004, and set the stage for some in 2006.
First, expect many TV ads in major Texas markets hammering DeLay and Perry for their power grab.
The districts were drawn by DeLay and Co., and defended by Republican leaders in the Legislature as helping minorities. But minority communities on which the white Democrats had counted were split, and other minority districts were shifted to reduce overall Democratic clout in Congress to better assure Republican policies that many minority group members consider anathema.
Virtually every organized minority group, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the League of United Latin American Citizens, blasted the new districts. In the federal trial, Republican map makers said their goal was partisanship.
The districts represented by U.S. Reps. Nick Lampson of Beaumont and Max Sandlin of Marshall now are stacked against Democrats, as are those that Edwards, Frost and Stenholm represent. The other white Democrats — Bell, Doggett and Gene Green of Houston — are running in districts with heavy minority populations.
It still would take a minor miracle for even some of the Democrats in Republican-leaning districts to win. But any who do reduce DeLay's presumption of boosting Republicans from the 15 that the party held before Hall switched to 22 in the 32-member Texas delegation.
And because Frost in Dallas is running against GOP incumbent Pete Sessions, and Stenholm against GOP incumbent Randy Neugebauer of Lubbock, they could even knock off two sitting Republicans.
No matter what happens, it'll make a lot of political noise.
Dave McNeely's column appears Thursdays. Contact him at (512) 445-3644 or dmcneely@statesman.com.
I think Sessions is more likely to prevail than is Neugebauer, based on experience and name ID. For years, many Republicans have routinely voted for Stenholm.
Ohio Republicans Gerrymandered the OHio state senate and house districts. The State senate seat from my district had beem held by the same democratic family for decades. The state office building even bears the Daddies name.
Both the Sentaor and the Rep ran for reelection in the gerrymandered districts. They both had tons of money... But both Democrats got their rumps beat in the 2002 election.
Gerrymandering works. Always has! Always will! Since the 1930s much of the nation has been gerrymandered by Republicans. That is why Reagan could win 49 states and Republicans not win a majority of the house seats in 84.
Now the Gerrymander is on the other foot. And that mean ole mander has been rammed up the Democrats rump for a change.
As I recall the people of Nagasaki decided to run when they saw that atomic bomb falling... It didn't do them any good either.
Oh, my. Re-districting has become partisan under the Republicans! Stop the presses!
Unless I am mistaken, I think that you meant to say Democrats in that sentence.
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