Redistricting makes taking back the House difficult for Dems

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

There was basically the same situation in 2002. The only state that flipped in control is North Carolina. OK the Democrats had Georgia too but that was an atrocious dummymander. At least this year the Democrats got Illinois and there is some restraint on the Republicans in Florida, as well as Obama DOJ's veto on many maps.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

That not-quite-majority black seat in the south Atlanta metro was going to happen no matter what, the only way a Republican could gerrymander it and not threaten nearby Republican seats would violate the VRA. It didn't have to look as ugly as the Democrats made it, but there's a reason the Republicans didn't change it much in their re-remap.

I'm think mostly of the 11th here, which was a good example of why specifically targeting one person (in this case Barr) can backfire. You'd think the Georgia Democrats would've learned from the 90s...also they initially botched the 12th too.

In Alabama the goal was to get the third district ripe for a conservative Democrat. But it didn't work. Louisiana's map barely changed.

The Pubs this time got total control of PA and OH, and that is critical.

Just as they did in 2002.

Indiana and Wisconsin don't look to be changing much, and the GOP may not even hold the Senate in Wisconsin by the time redistricting comes around.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Speakers_of_the_Ohio_House_of_Representatives
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_Ohio_Senate

We all know who was Governor of Ohio at that time, but I won't say him by name because it's pretty depressing.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

There's plenty of obvious Republican-beneficial touches to the current Ohio map, OH-01 extending into Butler County is clear, so is how OH-03 was handled, and the way Columbus was split even if that pre-dates that map. OH-14 is obviously designed to squeeze a Republican district out of an area where there shouldn't be one with that many seats, it may not look hideous but the intent is quite clear. Of course this also relates to the shoring up Sherrod Brown thing.

The weird split in SE Ohio is also because they were intent on making sure Traficant was the chopped rep and wanted to not only carve up his district but make it so that there's no way he could possibly get elected from any other, so OH-06 runs up the border to take some of his territory. This worked but also because of a convenient scandal, and backfired in the sense that it took out longtime Democratic Rep. Tom Sawyer (he had some weird parents) from Akron, because he was forced into a seat that also contained the Mahoning Valley which didn't want to be represented by a pro-free trade urban liberal. Hence his primary defeat to Tim Ryan.

I'll also draw attention to the cracking of Athens County, even though OH-06 was designed to be conceded to Strickland the GOP was obviously eying it once he made his inevitable gubernatorial run, and might've taken it if it hadn't been such a disastrous year. They got it eventually but frankly with the current redistricting situation might've been better off not doing so.