It's just what neocon radicals do not think of. A time when they are not in power. They don't think in terms of long term. They only think of what they can get NOW. I predict that will be the cause of their downfall. The political downfall is already underway. Short term personal gain by our elected officials has never been a popular position to run on. Once the public(as slow as the majority is sometimes to catch on) once we realize the self serving actions are exposed the reaction is immediate as evidenced by poll #'s. Don't count me as one of the slow ones. I am a dedicated finder of facts over fiction & rhetoric for many, many years. Thank you for your diligence. Always your friend & ally, Kevin DiRito

Another way to stop the Tom DeLays of this world from tampering and hampering would be to require that all states draw equal area, N,S / E,W "squares" within their states, regardless of population within a particular section; obviously because of irregular boundaries, these would not be perfect squares, but with modern computer technology, they could be made perfect enough regarding actual square footage and then citizens could only vote for candidates running for a seat within their respective geographical square, regardless of party. Then again, perhaps in parts of Nevada, Texas and Montana, only the jackrabbits could vote or run for office, which would undoubtedly be a significant improvement, at least in Texas.

It would serve those crooked republicans right if the democrats did that!!! I think they ought to too, stop being the nice guy. I think the Dems ought to give those crooks a taste of their own medicine!!!!!!!!!

It's so true that the repugs never, ever think ahead or consider the ramifications of actions taken today; it's all about instant gratification in their world and therefore the consequences of the bad acts of today always extract a major price from them. It's gratifying to the rest of us but unbelievable that they're consistently that stupid. The Delay decision they crow over at the moment just opened the Pandora's Box of their worst nightmares -- and they don't even know it -- yet! I'm sure everyone remembers when they thought it was so intelligent to sic their mad dog, Starr, on Clinton and then impeach him for the oral sex he was able to discover millions of tax dollars and years later, without so much as a thought toward the repercussions that were inevitable since so many
Repugnants involved in those extramarital affairs of their own were bound to be exposed as a direct result. And when they were dropping like flies they seemed surprised!! The Newt was the first to go --with his mistress of 6 years!!Oh, yeah, those beacons of morality and ethics carrying on about taking the high road as they condemn others doing the same thing, usually less of it, too! Dumb, dumber, and dumbest!! Let's hope the Dems take the ball the repugnants just tossed them and run all the way to the goalpost with it and score BIG the longest era of a Democratic majority controlling American politics imaginable. Hell, it'll take them at least the rest of the century to straigten out this mess created in six years of republicans at the controls.

While we're at it, we should abolish the electoral college, and the senate.

I think that the Democrats should continue to do the right thing. The Delay-type republicans are in the minority. If the Democrats adopt the same strategy as Delay, the vast policital center in this country (the ones that really do elect politicians to office) can say that their is no real difference between the Democrats and the republicans.

Just for the record, the Democrats already control the Governor's office (Bill Richardson)and the New Mexico state legislature. The Republicans control one US Senate seat and two of three NM seats in the US Congress. District 1 (Albuquerque) is a tight race so watch this one between incumbent (R) Heather Wilson and (D) state attorney general Patricia Madrid. The Republicans tried to redraw the congressional districts here (to give Heather a safe seat) when a Republican was governor, but failed.

Brad,

This is a question for you and perhaps others who have information on this issue]: you say that "...An ideal alternative would be for states to turn into multimember districts and elect at-large representatives for the House—which would be perfectly constitutional..." Could you provide me with evidence as to the constitutionality of such a system? I'm curious as to what sources you have for saying this [i.e., that such a system would be constitutional]. Also, on another matter entirely, do you have any thoughts as to which party would benefit from such a system?

Derek