On paper, Tuesday’s announcement of congressional reapportionment numbers by the U.S. Census Bureau should be an early Christmas present for Republicans. Nowhere was the GOP’s triumph on Election Day more complete than in state legislatures, where Republicans picked up some 680 seats.
Because state lawmakers control the once-a-decade redrawing of congressional maps in most states, that puts Republicans in a position to decide the boundaries of about 194 House districts, more than double the number they controlled last cycle. Instead of popping the champagne corks, though, some GOP leaders are warning about the perils of too much cartographical authority.
Full story: NationalJournal.com – In New Maps, ‘An Embarrassment of Riches’ for GOP – Tuesday, December 21, 2010