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Land Rover 
Group: Members
Posts: 6529
Joined: Sep. 2006
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Posted on: Jan. 05 2013, 2:13 pm |
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This is the kind of lowlife that make up the GOP elections these days. Fail to force their extremist ideas down America's throat so they continue to work to fix the elections.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinion....ry.html
The final results from the November election were completed Friday, and they show that Democratic candidates for the House outpolled Republicans nationwide by nearly 1.4 million votes and more than a full percentage point — a greater margin than the preliminary figures showed in November
Morally bankrupt ideology.
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| Post Number: 2
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Land Rover
Group: Members
Posts: 6529
Joined: Sep. 2006
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Posted on: Jan. 05 2013, 2:13 pm |
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even if Democrats were to win the popular vote by a whopping nine percentage points — a political advantage that can’t possibly be maintained year after year — they would have a tenuous eight-seat majority.
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Drift Woody
Group: Members
Posts: 5320
Joined: Feb. 2006
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Posted on: Jan. 05 2013, 2:35 pm |
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Gerrymandering is one of those practices in which the refrain "both sides do it" actually applies (the Democrat-controlled state legislature in Illinois certainly engages in it).
It may be that Republicans have gerrymandered to greater effect recently, but I don't see incumbent Congressmen from either party clamoring to end the practice. The fact is, gerrymandering protects the seats of incumbents when their party controls the state legislature.
Aside from gerrymandering, another factor in Dems winning fewer seats with more total votes is the concentration of Democratic voters in densely populated urban areas. Even if congressional districts were logically drawn to keep the borders geographically proximal, we could still see a disproportionate ratio between number of seats and total votes per party.
Bottom line is, neither party can lay claim to a higher principle on gerrymandering. When a party controlling a state legislature pushes through an amendment to the state constitution mandating impartially drawn congressional districts, then that party can legitimately lay claim to the higher ground.
Killing the gerrymander is IMO one of the most needed political reforms.
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We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.
-- Native American proverb
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ol-zeke
me in the Tetons
Group: Members
Posts: 10923
Joined: Sep. 2002
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Posted on: Jan. 05 2013, 2:35 pm |
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When looking at overall figures like that one, I try to keep in mind that not all districts have the same population. Try as they might, when a state has x districts, most of those districts are equal, or nearly so. But when compared to another state's district, there are imperfections. Wyoming has only 1 Representative, so that district has a smaller number of voters than , say, 1 in Ca. Rural states, where the vast majority of R representatives come from, have fewer voters per district than urban ones.
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Everything I know, I learned by doing it wrong at least twice.
The easiest way to ruin a Friday is to realize it is only Tuesday.
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| Post Number: 5
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wwwest
Group: Members
Posts: 4124
Joined: Dec. 2002
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Posted on: Jan. 05 2013, 3:14 pm |
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Its bad, but not as bad as it looks.
While a non-partisan, science based electoral commission would be a great thing, and would largely correct the situation, the demographic wave is going to undo much of the tightly defined gerrymandering, IMO.
As the young and the non-white take over the Republican grand plan will fall apart.
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| Post Number: 7
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Survival Skills 101 • Eat Better
