If there was ever a poster child for how redistricting should not be done, it is the Congressional district map for Pennsylvania. It was designed to elect 14 Republicans and 5 Democrats (everything except for PA-1/2/11/12/14 was drawn to favor a GOPer) in a state that voted for Bill Clinton twice and Al Gore in 2000. It was designed by Republicans for Republicans.
The map was so complex, that in order to draw it, the GOP used a mainframe at Carnegie Mellon University to input all of the demographic information. The result is a district that only redistricting junkies and GOPers love. But the map has backfired on GOPers. It never lived up to its potential in the first place.
In 2006, Pennsylvania was ground zero for the wave. Democrats picked up 4 seats (the 4th, 7th, 8th, and 10th) and threw out Rick Santorum. Not bad.
This diary:
1)Looks at what the map was drawn to do.
2)How it turned out to function in reality.
3)Looks forward to see who's vulnerable.
More following the jump.
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