Gerrymandering poll

[MarkDel]

NC LIB,

That's a little confusing. If the Democrats were in charge of the previous redistricting, which they were, then how in the hell did it get unfairly gerrymandered in favor of the Republicans?

No...the answer here is not nearly that simple. It's mostly two key factors:

1. The population changes so rapidly in Florida that a district cut in 1990 may look completely different by the end of the decade.

2. The Democrats are their own worse enemy in Congressional races here. While voter registration is fairly even, or even slightly in favor of the Democrats, many of the registered Dems are more conservative than the statewide Democratic Party which is dominated by the Miami area left wingers and the Tallahassee area center/left crowd. The party gives money to, and otherwise supports, candidates who are wayyyy to the left of their mainstream Democratic voters within that district, so the Republicans win in areas where they have disadvantages in terms of enrollment.

If you take districts like Florida-5, 7 and 8, they should be seats won by the Democrats, but they consistently put up candidates in those areas that are NOT representative of the moderate to conservative Democrats who live there.

[MarkDel]

Lewis,

Yes, that's a pretty good analysis, in fact, your #2 reason is probably the most important one, and along the same lines of what I was trying to say about Florida's constantly changing population.