States' redistricting: brace yourselves for the 2010s as a Republican decade

The coming Republican decade derives from state level Republican lawmakers' self-serving redistricting.

This will make the task of progressives' pushing for electoral victories much more difficult.

The November 2, 2010 Republican sweep of the elections handed state-level Republicans great redistricting power.
Mother Jones explains. Read: http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/republican-decade-congressional-redistricting

Not a fan of your new GOP-dominated House of Representatives? You'd better get used to it. After winning almost unprecedented power over the congressional redistricting process, Republicans are poised to lock in their gains for a decade or more. And there's very little the Democrats can do to stop them. This year, the Dems could draw less than half the districts the GOP does.

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The Republican wave couldn't have come at a worse time for Dems. America's once-a-decade census has wrapped up, and many states are due to change the boundaries of their congressional districts. Population-based adjustments mean that slower-growing states (like Ohio) will lose seats, while faster-growing states (like Florida) will gain them.

The only solace is that rising Hispanic populations in Sun Belt states will lead to realignment of states to blue state or purple state status. Witness the strong Latino support for Democratic candidates in this week's elections in California and Nevada.