Conventional wisdom in the pundit sphere suggests that Democrats will be locked out of the House from now until 2022, when the 2020 census and its corresponding redistricting can occur. This, I feel, is wrong. The House can be ours again - in 2016. And here's how we do it.
For many state legislatures, 2014 will be the first time since 2010 that voters will have a chance to completely undo the damage they did in that election. Polling shows that the Republican brand is toxic, and that is not likely to improve much in the coming months as ObamaScare turns out to be yet another Republican hoax. This allows us the opportunity to win back numerous governorships and state legislatures, if we play our cards right and go on an all-out offensive. This provides us with a golden opportunity for the subsequent election in 2016, for two reasons.
First, should Hillary run, her coattails will make 2008 look like a pittance. Hillary's main advantage is her appeal towards the southern Democratic coalition of the 90s that elected Bill Clinton, letting him win states like Kentucky and Arkansas that the modern Democratic Party wouldn't even dream of contesting. Reminding southern Democrats that it's okay to vote for a moderate leftist will surely effect the Congressional districts these southern Democrats inhabit.
But secondly, and most importantly, those states whose legislatures and governorships we control in 2014 can engage in a mid-season redistricting plan based on the California model. "But evilcommunist, no one has ever done mid-season redistricting! We'll be laughed out of office!" Not so, dear man. Remember Tom DeLay and his infamous 2003 Texas redistricting plan? It cost Democrats several House seats and cemented Republican control of the state. There is precedent for this sort of behavior - and that was a blatantly partisan attempt to gerrymander an entire state. California's model is the anti-gerrymander. There is no legitimate argument one can make against purposefully making districts MORE competitive.
If 2014 and 2016 are the Democrat semi-wave years that I predict, then the House can be ours, and soon. What would Democrats do with the House, the Senate, and the Presidency? I can think of a laundry list of things, including the imminent replacement of Scalia, a push for a public option, climate change legislation, and maybe even a constitutional amendment against Citizen's United. These are the stakes. We can't afford not to take these state legislative elections seriously, and we can't afford to wait until 2020 to do something about the Republicans' shameless gerrymandering. This country can't wait that long.