Dennis Kucinich: Campaigning in Washington

Question of the day.

Dennis Kucinich.

In general, redistricting fights are highly partisan affairs.  As Ohio recently went into Republican hands, this means the new lines will be drawn for Republican benefit — if there is a Democratic congress-critter they desire to get rid of, a high ranking riser, they will seek to squash him.  The Democratic Party of Georgia sought to do this to Newt Gingrich in the early 1990s, which prompted a move of Gingrich to a district impenetrable fortress of upper class suburban sprawl (where he nearly lost a Republican primary).

So Ohio is losing two seats, you might expect them to squish away a despised Democrat here, while packing in voters for a safe Democrat who is of no real consequence —

— Take, for instance, Dennis Kucinich, who has stuck out his place as a Champion for the “Pacifica Radio Archipelago” (as I once saw it coined.)   It may be that the only way to “pack” the city of Cleveland is to leave a single Democrat Congress critter, such that it is a coin flip on the advantages of leaving either Kucinich or Betty Sutton.  Otherwise, I don’t know why the Republicans would really want to get rid of Kucinich — for them, he’s harmless enough and a useful enough foil.

As it goes, Dennis Kucinich is running around Washington State, thinking of trying to snag that state’s new Congressional district. I suppose if the Democrats in control of redistricting (I’d have to look up to see if the state has devised a nonpartisan approach to that) are dreading the effects of Kucinich running in suburbia, they can devise a gerry mander shape that can sneak him aside Jim McDermott, but I’m guessing the computer algorithm equation to thread the needle of demographics that carefully has not been developed.

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