South, West expected to pick up House seats after census

2012 race off to early start in Massachusetts
The election cycle is barely a month old, but two Veteran Massachusetts congressmen are already maneuvering with November 2012 in mind. Earlier this month, Democratic Reps. John Olver and Richard Neal separately announced that they intend to run for Reelection — an unusually early declaration designed to send a clear signal to State Legislators in advance of the expected loss of one House seat for the state in reapportionment. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 “Th...

Kabuki or Kumbaya?
Republican and Democratic leaders in the Colorado General Assembly on Thursday announced plans to seat a joint select committee that will guide the usually contentious process of redrawing Congressional Districts. During a briefing at the Denver Press Club to preview the upcoming legislative session, Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, House Speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, Minority Leader Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, and Pace said keeping congressional redistricting out of court ...

Measured approach to redistricting tried
Could U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat, find herself in the fight of her life in 2012? Is it possible to make a Congressional Seat centered in Republican-red El Paso County truly competitive? Statehouse leaders are hoping to find out. Speaking at the Denver Press Club on Thursday, Democratic and Republican legislative leaders announced a special Bipartisan congressional redistricting committee. The 10-member group, to be composed of five Democratic and five Republican lawmakers, will ...

Why Obama Needs To Play Midwest Defense In 2012
If this cycle's Election Results are any indicator for Pres. Obama's path to re-election, then the president needs to significantly repair his party's image throughout the Midwest states he won in 2008. A close look at how Democrats fared this year compared to how they did in 2008 suggests that Obama needs to focus his 2012 Campaign near the Great Lakes and the Mountain West -- Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. There are five other states Obama won that he'll need to spend significant time in ord...

Holiday tax bill is law _ help for rich and poor
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama signed into law a huge, holiday-season tax bill extending cuts for all Americans on Friday, saluting a new spirit of political Compromise as Republicans applauded and liberals seethed. The benefits range from Tax Cuts for Millionaires and the Middle Class to longer help for the jobless. The most significant tax Legislation in nearly a decade will avert big increases that would have hit millions of people starting in two weeks on New Year's Day. Declared ...

Obama savors 'big win' over tax bill
The White House Friday savored a "big win" for President Barack Obama, after Congress backed his tax deal with Republicans, despite fierce opposition from sectors of his Democratic Party. Top Obama aides also expressed confidence that two other big agenda items -- the Repeal of a ban on gays serving openly in the Military and a new nuclear arms reduction deal with Russia would also soon win Senate backing. The rush of Legislation in the previously log jammed Senate helped confound perceptions th...

Obama: Tax deal will 'create jobs for the American people'
President Obama signed a temporary extension of the George W. Bush Tax Cuts into law today, saying the disputed package will "grow our economy" and "create jobs for the American People." Without the bill, all of the Tax Cuts that Bush signed into law would have expired at the end of the year, and American families would be looking at thousands of dollars in higher taxes, Obama said at a signing ceremony. The Legislation is "a substantial victory for middle-class families across the country," Oba...

The Base Of The Republican Wave
Bill Connelly looks at the composition of State Legislatures: [R]ecruiting is as important as redistricting in House races because Candidate quality is critical. Since the New Deal, Democrats’ dominance in state legislatures provided them with impressive farm teams. In the 2010 Midterm Elections, however, Republicans gained over 680 new state legislative seats, significantly expanding their farm teams and shrinking Democrats’. In related commentary, Weigel points out that reapportion...

Nevada GOP Sets 2012 Presidential Caucuses Date
From Politico: "The Nevada Republican Executive Committee voted Wednesday to hold the party's 2012 presidential Caucus on February 18, a decision that could make GOP voters in the "First in the West" state third in line to vote for their party's next nominee." The February 18, 2012 date for the Republican caucuses in the Silver state is aligned with where the Democratic Rules and Bylaws Committee had Nevada slated on their calendar for the Democratic nomination. I'm less surprised by the settin...

Pawlenty regrets not seeking third term as governor
Washington (CNN) - Outgoing Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said this week that he regrets not seeking a third term in St. Paul, now that the State Legislature is controlled by Republicans instead of the Democrat-Farmer-Labor party that fought much of his agenda. "Yes," was the straightforward answer Pawlenty gave when asked by the Duluth News Tribune editorial board earlier this week whether he wished he had sought another term. "If I would have known then what I know now," the Republican sai...

Obama Starts 2012 With Six Fewer Electoral Votes
The very useful site 270ToWin.com lets you play out the 2012 Elections with various re-apportionment scenarios. The first thing I notice is that if reapportionment goes as most people expect it to -- if Rust Belt and New England states lose seats, while the Sun Belt gains them -- and Barack Obama won exactly the same states that he won in 2008, he would win 359 Electoral Votes. That's down from the 365 votes he won in 2008. (Both numbers assume that Obama can win the extra electoral vote he won ...

Cummings Will Be Ranking Member on Government Reform Committee
In a 119-61 Caucus vote Thursday evening, Democrats made the unusual move of confirming Rep. Elijah Cummings as ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee.  With the selection of Cummings and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) chairing, observers predict this Committee will be one of the more bombastic in recent memory considering the reputations and backgrounds of both lawmakers. Issa is the clean-cut and affable, but unapologetically conservative livewire Congressman who has promised r...

As era nears end, Patrick Kennedy embraces new opportunities
WASHINGTON — Representative Patrick Kennedy stepped carefully around a clutter of half-packed cardboard boxes, overstuffed luggage, and several open bags of Potato Chips at his Capitol Hill apartment. It seemed more like a scene of a College Student heading home than the end of a 64-year political legacy. But Kennedy’s upcoming Retirement will break a bond between the nation’s capital and Camelot. When the new House is seated in January, it will mark the first time since 1947 ...

Patrick Kennedy leaves public life, and an era ends
WASHINGTON — Representative Patrick Kennedy stepped carefully around a clutter of half-packed cardboard boxes, overstuffed luggage, and several open bags of Potato Chips at his Capitol Hill apartment. It seemed more like a scene of a College Student heading home than the end of a 64-year political legacy. But Kennedy’s upcoming Retirement will break a bond between the nation’s capital and Camelot. When the new House is seated in January, it will mark the first time since 1947 ...

Michael Markarian: Keep Politicians' Paws off Prop B
Ever since Missouri citizens voted in favor of Proposition B -- the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act -- in November, a few politicians have been thumbing their noses at voters and talking about overturning the will of the people. One bill has already been pre-filed to Repeal Prop B in its entirety, and others are expected to severely weaken or gut the core provisions of the measure. We'll be reminding lawmakers that Prop B passed with a clear majority statewide; in fact, a majority of voters ...

LAST TICKET: Wyden has prostate cancer; congressman tweets in Morse code (The Ticket)
Here are the stories we took note of today but didn't give the full blog treatment: • Senator Ron Wyden has early-stage Prostate Cancer. (The Oregonian) • Sarah Palin's poll numbers are worse than Nancy Pelosi's. (First Read) • Greg Walden announced his House telecom subcommittee chairmanship by posting a Twitter message in Morse code. (Daily Intel) • Could "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" save Joe Lieberman? (The Fix) • Rob Simmons thinks the National Republican Senatorial Committee

Separation as symptom
One need only drive in and about Milwaukee and its suburbs to realize the essential accuracy of a Brookings Institution assessment of the metro area as one of the most racially segregated in the nation. Yes, other researchers dispute the methodology, but even they agree that segregation is a problem here. That this "news" will cause hardly a ripple in the metro area's social consciousness points to another problem - a status quo to which too many are too resigned. Right. If a black o...

Arizona Republicans Claim Religious Discrimination In Redistricting Panel
Republican lawmakers are challenging some of the early decisions of the political redistricting process - a process that was designed to exclude legislative influence. On Tuesday, the lawmakers reiterated their call for reconsideration of three nominees to the Independent Redistricting Commission. And they worried about the "chilling effect" of a Tucson man being dropped from the list, for what the lawmakers say were concerns about his Christian faith. The redistricting commission, created by th...

Black segregation in US drops to lowest in century (AP)
WASHINGTON – America's neighborhoods took large strides toward racial integration in the last decade as blacks and whites chose to live near each other at the highest levels in a century. Still, segregation in many parts of the U.S. persisted, with Hispanics in particular turning away from whites. A broad range of 2009 Census data released Tuesday also found a mixed economic picture, with the Poverty rate swinging wildly among counties from 4 percent to more than 40 percent as the nation...

Redistricting panel's work questioned
by Mary Jo Pitzl - Dec. 14, 2010 06:08 PM Republican lawmakers are challenging some of the early decisions of the political redistricting process - a process that was designed to exclude legislative influence. On Tuesday, the lawmakers reiterated their call for reconsideration of three nominees to the Independent Redistricting Commission. And they worried about the "chilling effect" of a Tucson man being dropped from the list, for what the lawmakers say were concerns about his Christian faith. T...

Reid Drops Omnibus Spending Bill
(NewsCore) - In a surprise move, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on the Senate floor Thursday that he does not have the necessary votes to file for Cloture on a $1.1 Trillion omnibus spending bill and will therefore not bring it to the Senate floor for a vote. Reid said nine Republicans, who he refused to name, had previously assured him of their support for the bill but had walked away from it in the last few days. Instead, Reid said he will now work with Senate Minority Le...

Reid Drops Omnibus Spending Bill
(NewsCore) - In a surprise move, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on the Senate floor Thursday that he does not have the necessary votes to file for Cloture on a $1.1 Trillion omnibus spending bill and will therefore not bring it to the Senate floor for a vote. Reid said nine Republicans, who he refused to name, had previously assured him of their support for the bill but had walked away from it in the last few days. Instead, Reid said he will now work with Senate Minority Le...

Which States Will Gain/Lose House Seats?
The Census Bureau will release its official state population totals next week along with the resulting allotment of House seats for the next decade. Cook Political Report: "For some states, there isn't much suspense. Georgia, Nevada, and Utah are all but certain to gain an additional seat in the House, while Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are all but certain to lose a seat and Ohio is all but certain to lose two seats. However, much like NCAA ba...

Reps. Paul Ryan, Chris Van Hollen Talk Policy, Politics; Justice Stephen Breyer on New Book
VAN HOLLEN: Yeah. WALLACE: I understand that you want to say, "Well, it's them blocking it," but the president has made a deal with Republicans. You're the odd man out -- you, the House Democrats. VAN HOLLEN: Well, the president made a deal with the Senate Republicans. WALLACE: Right. VAN HOLLEN: There's no doubt about that. As somebody who was involved in the official talks, not the back-channel discussions, I know -- and to the credit of the Republicans, they did not say that this better deal ...

Cut Cali, by Bryan Caplan
Arnold should enjoy Jacob Lyles' proposed initiative to split California into two new states: Every single Incumbent Democrat running for Reelection to the State Legislature won his race, including a dead guy. In this election cycle politically active Californians were most concerned that Republicans would screw up the state. It is true that the Republican Party of California is a sad lot, but outside of a Governator or two they haven't wielded serious power in longer than I have been alive. I...