GOP Set to Conquer Redivided Texas

[cb88]

GOP Set to Conquer Redivided Texas
Party Can Control State With One Win Over Democrats in Fall Contests



By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 16, 2004; Page A06

Excerpt:

CLEBURNE, Tex.(cb88 note...this is the town next to me) -- Texas Republicans kicked up a mighty ruckus last year with their bare-knuckled congressional redistricting exercise, prompting court challenges, a grand jury investigation, and wholesale escapes to Oklahoma and New Mexico by Democratic legislators trying to derail the plan.

Now that the smoke has cleared, however, Republicans appear to have achieved exactly what they wanted: surgically redesigned districts that are jeopardizing the careers of five Democratic House members and significantly enhancing GOP hopes of keeping the House majority this fall and beyond. The Texas legislature has created districts so heavily Republican that even some of Congress's most conservative Democrats will have trouble winning reelection.
"The Democrats are putting up a very brave spin, but if the Republicans don't win every one of these races, they're guilty of malpractice," said Paul Burka, executive editor of Texas Monthly magazine and a longtime independent observer of Lone Star politics.

Two of the endangered House Democrats -- 26-year veterans Martin Frost and Charles W. Stenholm -- are among the most prominent. Frost, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, is an avid partisan who led his party's national efforts to win House seats in 1996 and 1998. Stenholm is the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee and one of his party's most conservative members.

Three other House Democrats -- Chet Edwards of Waco, Nick Lampson of Beaumont and Max Sandlin of Marshall -- face challenges from experienced Texas politicians in districts also redrawn to contain solid majorities of GOP voters.

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...referrer=email