Is a Gerrymander An Amphibian?

Way back in 1812, Elbridge Gerry, then the Governor of Massachusetts, was in charge of redividing the districts of his state after the census of 1810.  Governor Gerry decided to reshape districts to gain political advantage.  When he did, one came out with a strange shape that looked like a salamander.  That was renamed by the local newspaper into a "Gerry" mander and has stuck for the past hundred and eighty eight years.  So to "Gerrymander" is to redistrict for political advantage making strange shapes out of districts.

That is why electing a Governor from your party is important in the years after a census is taken.  That Governor can dictate the way your state is represented for the next ten years.  He/She can give his opposition a funny shaped district and confine all those against him into one district while giving his compatriots five districts or more.  In some cases a Governor can put all his opposition into a minority in several districts.

In Arkansas, we have a strong Democrat as Governor,  but in some other states the voters don't realize yet that the future of their state and their representation for the next ten years rests with who they elect Governor.

Only two states, Arkansas and New York, have strong Democrats that should be re-elected.  The Republican in New York is Carl Paladino, the guy that Andrew Coumo should beat easily.  Those two states plus seven holdovers will give the Democrats only nine states for sure.

The Republicans, on the other hand, have six holdovers and eleven solidly going to them.  That will give the Republicans a solid seventeen states to redistrict.  The leaning states are six for the Democrats and ten for the Republicans.  If that stays accurate, that will give the Democrats fifteen states and the Republicans twenty seven states to redistrict to their advantage.  The tossup states for Governor number eight.  If the Democrats take all of them, and they won't, they can't catch the Republicans in number of states they can redistrict.

No one has really brought this to the attention of the voters this year and it is very important that people know.  Unfortunately this blog is about a week late and reaches far too few to make a difference, but be aware, those Governors we elect this year are important, not only now but for the next ten years.

That's just another reason to be well informed.

(For more on this subject, go to;
www.redistrictingthenation.com/