That Which Can Be
One of the things that I have been touching on for years about why it's so important that we elect Bob Ehrlich Governor is redistricting, something I talked about last year when Monoblogue and the Swing State project took a swipe at this.
The reason? Because the legislative and Congressional redistricting plan introduced by the Governor becomes law after 45 days unless the General Assembly passes and the Governor signs a different redistricting plan. And the likelihood of that happening in any administration is slim and none considering that the General Assembly themselves would be picking the winners and losers.....it would be a bloodbath to pass any plan.
So if Bob Ehrlich wins....we might get something nice like this.
A redistricting plan that does two curious things; keeps our Congressional Districts in seemingly normal looking shapes for one. But also one that could give us a split delegation once more of four Republicans and four Democrats in our Congressional Delegation. Feel free to take your own stab here.
Pie in the sky? Probably. But this is why the 2010 Gubernatorial election has the potential to define a generation....one of many reasons why this election is so, so vitally important to the sanity of our state.
3 comments:
Come on Bob, please do what it takes to win. Those of us who got gerrymandered from Roscoe Bartlett's district into Elijah Cummings district a few years ago would certainly love to have a representative in congress again.
Regardless of the outcome of the general election and how redistricting goes, we need to work on party building in Montgomery County. Without a Connie Morella we won't ever have a 4-4 split again - you can't get there on redistricting alone. (I know a "Morella" isn't exactly a Red Maryland kind of candidate but at least we could count on a vote for speaker.)
Keep in mind, even if Ehrlich gets re-elected, the General Assembly will still have a veto-proof majority. Therefore, he'll ultimately have little say in the process.
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