Ohio Republicans considering redistricting. (Kucinich supporters read on!)

[Cascadian]

And that redisctricting target could be Dennis Kucinich's district!

The legislature in Columbus is majority Republican along with a Republican governor Bob Taft. The talk of Ohio resetting their congressional districts has resurfaced again after the GOP in Texas sucessfully redistricted against Democratic resistance. Even though Governor Taft and the Speaker of the Ohio State House reportedly are opposed to the redistricting idea, I have a feeling think they will do it after all. Read this article....


http://www.muhajabah.com/muslims4kucinich/archives/006374.php


Something smells rotten in the Buckeye State.


John

[jiacinto]

1. Well then will someone run against Voinoivch

Voinvoich is heavily favored for re-election; but, if they actually redraw the maps like that, they could very well get a competetive challenge to Voinovich. And he might have more trouble than he expects.

[Lady President]

10. Eric Fingerhut

I'm pretty sure Eric Fingerhut is running for Senator in Ohio. I don't know know much about him, but everything I've heard is good. If anyone has a few extra dollars or some free time...

http://www.fingerhutforsenate.com/

[AWD]

52. Fingerhut not running...

....he's not trying for US Senate yet. He's not ready for it yet, say my sources.

But Voinovich's opposition to Bush's tax cut in April is not endearing him to the conservative base.

What I'm hearing right now is that there is a man's name being pushed to go against Voinovich. His name rhymes with Bucinich. He's currently running for a higher office to get name recongnition and his message out there in a larger area.

[Freddie Stubbs]

64. Fingerhut looks like a candidate to me...

http://www.fingerhutforsenate.com/

[AWD]

65. That contradicts...

....what I heard recently. Hmmmm......

[Freddie Stubbs]

67. And it appears that he is still campaigning

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/local/7008939.htm

[Desertrose]

2. All the more reason we need DK as Prez

.....will this never end?

How can the repubs keep getting away with this????

Peace
DR

[Freddie Stubbs]

47. How would President Kucinich stop redistricting in Ohio?

[ComerPerro]

3. Why the hell don't people see what is going on?

The republicans have rejected the will of the people time after time now. The selection of 2000, the rush for a war vote before the midterm elections in 2002 (which helped Bush capture ALL of congress), the recall in California (which is spreading to various other Democratically controlled states), and the re-redistricting in Texas (which apprears to be spreading).


People don't believe me when I tell them there won't be an election in 2004. Shit like this makes me wonder why that is so hard to believe...

[tom_paine]

9. Oh, there'll be an "election" all right

As in Imperial Rome, where the Core Belief of the Romans (as it is with Amerikans) was that they would NEVER bow to a King.

Thus, when Augustus became "King" he couldn't call himself that. So he called himself Emperor and retained the nearly powerless Imperial Senate as a sop to that Core Notion.

Just as the Busheviks must maintain plenty of sop to the now-ended notion that Imperial Subjects of Amerika could NEVER bow down to a King or Emperor.

But the Imperial Subjects of Amerika didn't become that by NOT bending the knee, now did they?

[rucky]

4. AWD - Check in...

What's the skinny?

[AWD]

53. Redistricting will not happen

The legislature did the full job in 2001. There is no legal basis at all in Ohio for it...at least in Texas they had a decent argument, considering a judge drew the map.

Besides, there's not much of a possible map that could push Repub areas into Dem areas without putting the Repubs at risk.

it's a threat...no more than that.

[dfong63]

5. why can't dems play the same game?

are there any states where dems are in charge, and could gerrymander things to offset the repub gerrymandering in TX?

[Bronco69]

6. Good question

And one I've been asking all along!

[Padraig18]

7. We already DID! (IL)

LOL! :P

[goobergunch]

43. link?

Unless I missed something, we lost a seat in the 2001-02 IL redistricting and haven't gotten it back. Although we could....:evilgrin:

[mndemocrat_29]

13. I'm not a big fan of this, but

states where this could work are New Mexico or Illinois.

[JohnKleeb]

8. Those fucking assholes

Bastards, I hope we can keep that district.

[Tinoire]

17. John Kleeb! I'm SHOCKED!

Shocked I tell you! ;)

[JohnKleeb]

19. not at all those fuckers know what they are up against

FUCKING GOP

[salin]

11. Say it loud and often: GOP, the AntiDemocracy Party

correct me, but aren't these the same people who drafted and approved the redistricting after the census? In Texas the redistricting couldn't pass a vote and was decided by the courts (as does happen from time to time), when control of the state house flipped to R after the last elections - they used the fact that the redistricting was done by the courts, not the statehouse as the excuse/rationale for opening it up to redistricting.

As other state GOPs get so bold to even consider this tactic - without the cover of any logical reason (eg, recall for the Governor in Wisconsin) - the party unmasks itself further. They HATE democracy.

[jiacinto]

12. Who would they target

Isn't OH already heavily gerrymandered in favor of the GOP? Who would they go after?

The only person I could see being targetted is Strickland, as his seat could probably be split among three or four districts.

But then he would make a good statewide candidate.

[JohnKleeb]

14. well if Kucinich doesnt get the nod

I think he could run against DeWine if thats what you mean.

[jiacinto]

18. Kuchinch's seat won't be targetted

If anything they would make his and Stephanie Tubbs's seat more Democratic. They would probably throw as many Democrats into both of those seats, making every other district around them both heavily Republican.

[JohnKleeb]

20. ok I see

[jiacinto]

22. Kuchinich represents Cleveland

Most likely the GOP will concede two seats there while making the other surrounding suburban districts more Republican. They will probably concede a seat or two in Cleveland and try to tinker with the suburban districts.

In Eastern Ohio they will probably make one super-heavily Democratic district and try to hurt the other incumbents. They would probably take crucial precincts away from Strickland and give them to one or two Democrats.

The one truly at risk, as I see it, is Strickland, who represents SE Ohio. That area is thinly populated and thus they could probably cut up the district in several pieces, shifting crucial precincts to the North and to the West.

Basically what they could do to him is force him to run in a district that includes the Republican strongholds in Cincinatti's suburbs and exurbs, while shifting the crucial Northern precincts up into the safe Democratic seats of Eastern Ohio.

That's who probably has the most to lose.

[JohnKleeb]

24. Ok thanks

Districting isnt really something I am good at understanding.

[jiacinto]

27. Yeah

No problem.

[JohnKleeb]

32. You learn about in political science if you so choose in high school right

I am gonna take it.

[jiacinto]

37. Yeah

But I've stuided politics for years, ever since I was a child.

[JohnKleeb]

40. Its a good class, I know the teacher being a student of his in philosophy

Thats a neat class as well.

[AWD]

54. Wrong Senator...

....from what I'm hearing, at least.

[JohnKleeb]

56. What you hearing

Hey he would make a fine senator too bad though I dont live in OH then, who knows he could be president. Besides you know I think soon or sometime he will catch on like wildfire.

[AWD]

58. What I saw and heard yesterday....

...was the speech of a man honoring his base and protecting it.

While I have now become a big fan of DK, what I saw was a man energizing a campaign and setting it up to roll into a different job.

I may be wrong, but Dennis is using the pass to set up the run. Watch for him to make big waves, pull out and enter the Senate race in a very short period of time. I know that will disappoint you John, but it will swing the Senate back. Dennis is very popular in Cleveland (always has been)...now he's getting popular in the rest of the state and beyond. That will serve him well in a Senate campaign, where it did not exist before.

[JohnKleeb]

59. Hey if the party gets back to where it was

That will be fucking awesome. I want that to happen. Of course it will be great if he goes all the way but if he becomes like a senator or something it wont be that bad. If we can have the party liberal again I would really be happy.

[rads]

63. That would be great!

I'd love to see him run for senate, as it might actually give some hope to energizing and reviving the state party. Have you heard something specific or is this an informed guess?

[AWD]

66. Informed guess...

....but I stress the word 'informed'.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

15. RECALL FUCKING ARNOLD NOW!!!!...why are we dems so civilized???

it time to crawl down in the fucking gutter and play the TGOP slime game!!!

[jiacinto]

41. Maybe because a recall on Arnold would fail right now?

nt

[Padraig18]

48. As satisfying as that would be...

He can't be subject to a recall until he's been Governator for 180 days, I believe.

[JanMichael]

16. Texas was a Re-RE-Districting. RERERERERERERERE-----

Same in Ohio apparently...

"These congressional districts are only eight months old," Ohio House Minority Leader Chris Redfern (D., Catawba Island) said. "Ohioans have barely had a chance to get acquainted with their new members of Congress, and now some Republicans are concocting a scheme to take those members away, all in the crass pursuit of political power."

Unfreakin'believable! It's a TEN YEAR POST CENSUS activity and now the repukes want to do it whenever they feel like it.

This is NUTS.

[izzie]

21. At this rate we will be in cages in Cuba.

They do not just dislike us they hate us.

[Padraig18]

23. May I have the cage next to John Kleeb?

He seems a very pleasant and intelligent sort; we could at least talk, unless they gag us, as well.

[JohnKleeb]

25. heh thanks

But I aint gonna have no cage but those fuckers wont cage me. La Resistance. Thanks humbled heh.

[Padraig18]

28. YW!

Yeah, I'm irish, so I'll go down standing in a hail of bullets rather than live like a caged animal. Something genetic, I think. :)

[Cascadian]

30. You and me both though I have Scottish in me as well.

So it will be twice as hard to put me into a cage. Sometimes I wished the Democrats would have people be like William Wallace instead of those Scottish Lords who didn't want to fight but wanted to compromise. If you have seen the movie "Braveheart" you would understand.

John

[JohnKleeb]

33. Ive seen it

:hi: Feel sorry for what the English put you all through as well. All my people but the Germans and I am not even sure about them were occupied by empires. The Scottish lords heh :) Cas all they cared about was their land. Typical Aristocrats :) heh.

[Padraig18]

34. I have seen it.

My own people fought for freedom for 500 years, so I understand what patience and resolve mean, too. :)

[JohnKleeb]

36. And still arent really free yet

By that I mean the North and isnt that where you are from? btw my family my connection more so, my nana's maiden name was Keown and I am told by a cousin they came from Galway.
Have you seen Bloody Sunday yet? Its real good and nonhollywood like.

[Padraig18]

38. Not yet, John

I've heard it's quite good, though!

My daddy was originally from Co. Antrim, which is north, but my mam's family are all westerners--- Athlone, Galway, etc.

[JohnKleeb]

39. It is, bought it on DVD

Ending song is U2's song of the same name. Really is a beautiful place and ancestral home of one of our greatest political dynasties. Pretty sure the Kennedies came from Wexford I think that was the name.

[Padraig18]

42. Aye, they came from Wexford. n/t

[JohnKleeb]

45. thought so

Thats in the South East right.

[Padraig18]

46. Yep!

It's in the SE corner of the island. :) A beautiful place, should you ever get the chance to visit. it's called the "Sunny Southeast" for a reason.

[JohnKleeb]

49. cool

thanks.

[JohnKleeb]

31. Yeah

I am only part but what the hell, :) I guess that makes me like
He was more Irish than I being half and I being 25%. I am not sure if any of my ancestors resisted the British, my Irish side has been here for a while, now I know I had Nazi Resisters on my Slovenian side.

[JohnKleeb]

26. Not if I have anything to do about it

Fuckers

[tom_paine]

62. 50 years, top...probably much sooner

and remember...this will be a new form of Totalitarianism, so it might not be cages or concentration camps, per se.

Read "Farenheit 451".

[ShaneGR]

29. This will never, ever, happen

They've reduced us to five or six seats, they have no legal or empirical evidence to suggest that they deserve to have a 7 or 8 seat advantage in Ohio. Not to mention that any attempt to touch Sherrod Brown's district will invoke the wrath of god on their sorry asses.

[AWD]

55. The Dems number 6

There are 6 Dems in the US House from Ohio, and their districts are so heavily Dem, it's be impossible to shrink that any more than it is.

A redrawing would actually weaken the Repubs.

[jiacinto]

35. What they could do

I see the map here.

Cleveland: What they will probably do is throw even more Democrats into both Kuchinich and Tubbs's seats. Most likely both districts would get more Democrats. They would concede both of these districts.

I think Sherrod Brown represents the 13th. What they will probably do is shift some of his territory in Regula's seat, which is Republican leaning. Or see what I write next.

Toledo: Marcy Kaptur could be in trouble. What they could do is give her some of the precincts in the 5th district. In the process they would probably extend the 5th either further south or east to pick up Democrats that she needs.

Northeast Ohio: What they would do here is probably throw Brown and the man who succeed Traficant (forgot his name) into one seat. Or they would concede one heavily Democratic seat here.

Southeast/Rural Ohio: Strickland could lose the most here. His seat is sparsely populated and thus extends over many counties. They would probably give many parts of the 2nd to him. They would shift his Northern, more Democratic precincts to the districts above him or to the 16th. In the process his new seat would proably have the suburbs and exurbs of Cincinatti as its focus.

Southwest Ohio: They would probably try to help Steve Chabot here by extending his seat to the suburbs of Cincinati. Portman would probably pick up some hostile precincts in the City, although not enough to change the partisan balance of his district; or, in fact, they could change the third and have it swoop in and take in some parts of the city. In the process the 2nd could take some of those counties now in the third. Then the first could be more Republican.

Or they could try to squeeze in all the Democrats in the Dayton and Cincinatti areas into one heavily Democratic seat. Then they could make Rob Portman and Steve Chabot's seat heavily Republican. But that might impact their efforts to tinker with Strickland.

But then that might impact their efforts to proect the 3rd. However, to strengthen all three of those Republicans, they could coneviably make a seat (it would look very weird) that would take in all of the Democrats in the City of Dayton and then merge them with the Democrats in Cincinnatti. In the process they could keep the suburbs of Dayton and in the third.

So frankly I think Strickland has the most to lose with a new map.

[goobergunch]

44. IIRC, Strickland threatened to run against Taft so they'd keep his seat

Could Strickland run against Voinovich if they DEATed his seat now?

[jiacinto]

51. That was Sherrod Brown actually

nt

[AWD]

57. It'll be a big mistake...

I think Sherrod Brown represents the 13th. What they will probably do is shift some of his territory in Regula's seat, which is Republican leaning. Or see what I write next.

If they gave Sherrod Brown some of my district, it'd be a nightmare for them. The only places they could do this is north Stark County (heavily Repub) or Medina County, (slightly Repub). Sherrod is so strong in Summit County that he'd easily outweigh the redistricting.

Bush won Stark County with only 48.3 percent of the vote in 2000....if they yank away the Repub strength of my county, it'll be a huge mistake. Stark holds 55% of all the registered voters of the 16th.

And if they take Repubs away from my district, they're in for a shock. the last 3 candidates to go against Regula did NO campaigning. they think he's got a cakewalk, and from what I've been given recently from the DCCC and Ohio Dem Party, they're in for a rude awakening if they take Regula's seat for granted in '04.

Trust me on that....there's something big brewing in my camp. And I'm not even controlling it right now.

I have at least 2 Dem Representatives telling me that Ralph Regula is ready to leave and has no energy left. He will put up no fight because he has no fight left....and they will not be expecting a challenge until it's too late for him.

Go ahead...pull from Regula's district. It'll make my day.

[jiacinto]

61. Well you know it better than I do

Yeah the mistake would be that they would spread themselves too thin.

[Kolesar]

50. The GOPs have backed off since August. Jim Trakas was behind this

Locals I know say that Trakas is a crafty republican, and he can be worked with. I have read other articles that this threat has been withdrawn.

[dsc]

60. This won't happen for 2004 for several reasons

First, we have a March primary here for both President and our House seats. Given the lag time needed to set up polling places, get people familar with which district they are in, etc. this would end up being an emergency bill which requires Democratic input. That is why they couldn't go whole hog last time.

Second, Virtually all of our Congressional reps, and certainly all the ones they can possibly target, would make very good statewide candidates. Brown used to be Sec of State here and lost narrowly to Taft in 78. Tubbs Jones narrowly missed getting elected to our Supreme Court, as a political novice, in 92. Strickland, Kucinich, and Kaptur have all shown themselves to be both well spoken and having some ambitions statewide. All of the following, who have seats on our apportionment board, have interest in seeing strong statewide Democrats refrain from running, Larry Householder who is termlimted as a House member and wishes to be Governor, Taft, who may wish to be Senator if one of our current ones retire, Blackwell currently Sec of State wants to be Governor, Montgomery who is our Auditor and wants to be Governor. That is four of the five seats.

The only real power broker who wants this is Trakus who wants a Republican rep in his area, he may even want that rep to be him. I really can't see a way they can give him that without endangering a Republican, or running afoul of the Voting Rights Act by getting rid of Tubbs Jones majority minority district.