From the subscription-only
Roll Call:
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has spoken with several Democratic governors in recent weeks about the possibility of revisiting their states' Congressional lines in response to the ongoing Republican-led redistricting in Georgia, according to informed party sources.
Faced with the prospect of Republicans redrawing Congressional lines in a third state since the initial 2001 round of redistricting ended, a faction of national Democrats is urging an aggressive strategy aimed at striking back at Republican House Members in states like New Mexico and Illinois.
"We have to stop playing defense and go on the offensive," said Howard Wolfson, who served as executive director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2002 cycle and is now a consultant with the Glover Park Group.
"The only way to stop them from doing this is to make them pay a price for it somewhere else," said a longtime House strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Democrats believe their best opportunities lie in Illinois, New Mexico and Louisiana, where Democrats have seized control of all the levers of state government in those states since the 2001 reapportionment and redistricting.
Democratic Govs. Rod Blagojevich (Ill.) and Bill Richardson (N.M.) as well as high-ranking Louisiana elected officials have been contacted by members of House leadership led by Hoyer since the Georgia legislature began their re-redistricting.
"Some of us who believe Georgia is going to happen think that it will help us strategically, to motivate some governors that weren't interested in doing it to help us," said one source who works closely with House Democrats.
At least a few D.C.-based Republicans privately acknowledge they are concerned about the possibility of Democratic retribution over the maneuvers in Georgia, but are not in a position to change the situation.
Illinois could garner 2 seats for Dems, and New Mexico another one. If we squeeze out one more from Louisiana, that would almost offset the five seats the GOP picked up in their Texas gambit.