California redistricting: Is Arnold threatening the GOP?


Schwarzenegger's Congressional and Assembly redistricting proposal threatens Republicans (because fair redistricting would likely lose them seats) as much as it worries Democrats (because it's hard to imagine a Republican governor deliberately sabotaging his own party's electoral prospects).

What if he's doing this to hold his own party's feet to the fire?

Arnold is to a limited extent a maverick inside his own party, and practices a slightly different brand of Republicanism that doesn't always jibe with the agenda of the national party. One has to wonder whether his plan to turn redistricting over to a nonpartisan panel of retired judges, which worries both parties... (from The Sentinel):
You can probably guess that California Democrats know all about redistricting Texas-style and so they're pretty much against it, seeing as how the guy who suggested it is a Republican.

Turns out the California GOP doesn't think much of the idea either. With California as blue as Texas is red, they fear that an objective redistricting would cost the party seats in Congress the same way it did for Texas Democrats.


...is, in part, a way to demonstrate to the national GOP that he has the power to really screw them hard, even threatening their hold on Congress, if they don't play ball with him.

Certainly, there is a point of no return: Once the redistricting has been performed, there's no going back, so if the Governor is going to negotiate for concessions from the national GOP in exchange for dropping this reform initiative, it has to happen relatively soon.

What do we think he wants?

(P.S.: When the other folks are in the majority, there's an extent to which all politics are their politics. So, this is the first and probably not the last article that focuses entirely on Republicans.)

Posted: Tue - February 22, 2005 at 09:08 AM   | Category:     |   |   | |


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