With the 2010 redistricting data for Iowa out, it looks like it's commission (or their computers) won't won't be able to draw a congressional district entirely in the 3x3 block of counties centered on Polk County (Des Moines), unless the tradition (and seeming state requirement) of not splitting counties is broken. The closest you can get without going outside of the "Des Moines 9" or splitting a county is the Des Moines 9 minus Boone County (the second smallest county in the group) which is 2,568.75 people short of the ideal Iowa congressional district population (most people round the ideal district population to the nearest integer, but I'm not most people even though I don't support chopping people into fractional portions). That's only 0.34% of the ideal district population, but probably too much to pass muster for a congressional district. The Des Moines 9 minus Madison County (the smallest county in the group) would be 8,058.25 people (1.06%) too large.
Since compactness is a criteria in Iowa and is measured by comparing north/south extent with east/west extent, the closest combination of a county or two in the Des Moines 9 being taken out of the district and a county or two outside of it being added to the district might not work. But it's still something worth checking out to see if you can have a close enough district that puts Des Moines in the center rather than on the end of its district like it is now and was under the last set of lines at least. I haven't found such a district yet, but I haven't spent much time looking.
Has anyone esle here started to work on Iowa CD plans with the official numbers?
