“In Battle for Political Conquest, Ethnicity Sets the Boundaries for Both Parties”

The New York Times has an article from the weekend that essentially concludes that the Voting Rights Act (VRA) has resulted in the congressional and state redistricting lines being essentially divided by ethic groups and boundaries established by race.  An excerpt:

With few exceptions, the decision to create or protect a minority district was also a decision about whether it would elect a Republican or a Democrat. Talk about walking on eggshells — every conversation or argument about the maps teeters between politics and race.


This year’s elections will clear up the remaining questions. Mr. Doggett is the last Anglo Democrat in the Congressional delegation who wasn’t elected in a minority opportunity district. If he wins re-election, it will be in a Latino district. (Representative Gene Green, Democrat of Houston, also an Anglo, has represented a Latino district for years.)


The only genuine swing district on the Congressional map is District 23, where Representative Francisco Canseco, Republican of San Antonio, will face the winner of a Democratic primary that could include former United States Representative Ciro Rodriguez, whom Mr. Canseco beat in 2010. That’s a test of whether Republicans can hold a minority district.


United States Representative Blake Farenthold, Republican of Corpus Christi, got a district with a Republican voting history but where a majority of the voters are either black or Latino. That’s another political test tube.


Republicans can’t increase their already stout majorities without winning minority votes or getting rid of the law that protects minority voters. And Democrats have to figure out a way to win in districts drawn by the opposition.

Fox appearance and Injustice jump

I appeared on Fox this morning to talk about radical attorney hires at DOJ and the promotion of Tony West to Associate Attorney General.  West represented American Taliban John Walker Lindh, and now oversees terrorist detainee policy.  Injustice soared in sales (good heavens Fox has punch) and in doing so it was discounted (perhaps temporarily) to about $16.  Get while the gettins’ good.

Latino group fumes over Pennyslvania redistricting standstill

Make no mistake — Latino redistricting advocates are still ticked off.

“It’s really mystifying. How can you say that one plan is
unconstitutional and then go ahead and say, well, you’ve got to go on
the 2001 plan, which is really unconstitutional?” says Angel Ortiz, the
former Philadelphia city councilman now with Latino Lines. “It makes no
sense whatsoever.”

Latino Lines has pushed to create four majority-Latino House
districts under the plan rejected by the state Supreme Court. The high
court has said the primary election will be based on 2001 state House
and Senate district lines.

The old map includes only one majority-Latino district, and Ortiz
says it disenfranchises a Latino population that has grown to at least
700,000 Pennsylvania residents
.

Link here.  Don’t expect the Democrats to come to your rescue.

9 voter fraud cases in Iowa to be investigated – Democrats question inquires

Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz has referred nine cases of
possible voter fraud to county attorneys for investigation since last
October, a spokeswoman for his office said Friday. The referrals
were prompted either by inquiries from county-level election officials
or complaints to the secretary of state’s voter fraud hot line,
spokeswoman Erin Rapp said

link.