Friday, March 5, 2010

Prediction: With Delahunt out, look for Dems to gerrymander GOP out of a seat

I think this is something you will only read here. With U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Quincy, deciding not to seek another term, and the MassGOP looking to score a potential victory in the 10th CD, could this be the seat that gets gerrymandered out of Massachusetts by 2012?
Regular readers of Politizine.com will recall that I did a pretty thorough piece back in late 2006 analyzing the fact that the state will probably lose a Congressional seat after this year's Census: ["Massachusetts to lose a Congressional seat?"].
In looking at the map, one could see where the 10th could be split up between the 3rd, 4th and 9th districts, with shifts to the west of cities and towns to other seats. It would be difficult to do.
But picture this: 2010 is a crazy year. The GOP picks up the 10th. Would anyone put it past the Democrats on Beacon Hill to gerrymander the winning Republican candidate completely out of a seat and make him (there are only men currently thinking about running) face off against Reps. Barney Frank, Stephen Lynch, or Jim McGovern? If they could create the most insane districts imaginable to save their friends having to face each other in a primary, and a powerful House Speaker being brought down by a felony charge for lying about the redistricting proceedings while under oath, what makes anyone think they won't figure out a way to bump off the first Republican to hold a Congressional seat in 14 years?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think this is not insame but likely. The 10th District is ALREADY gerrymandered to save Bill Delahunt --- ensuring that the large working class Democratic City of Quincy (also where Delahunt lives) is attached to Cape Cod by way of hugging the coast in between.

Lynch would love Quincy and Weymouth...he already has all the towns that surround them.