GOP's national redistricting power grab might come to a halt.

But we're relying on the Supreme Court (and the five partisan Bush v. Gore justices) to do it. That's the bad news.

The good news is that there's the first major effort in 20 years to rein in ultra-partisan redistricting that makes almost every general election a foregone conclusion. In Illinois, not one congressional seat is competitive. Not one. Out of 435 congressional districts, more than 400 are locked up for one party. That means almost all of us get NO SAY in which party is running the House of Representatives. No wonder turnout plummets.

Anyway, the Supreme Court on December 10th is hearing oral argument on a fantastic case challenging the GOP's gerrymander of Pennsylvania. The information the partisan gerrymandering case (courtesy of Jenner and Block) is here.

And Jeffrey Toobin, author of Too Close To Call (a really great read), has a fantastic article in The New Yorker here called The Great Eleciton Grab. Also worth a read.

The Illinois angle is, as I see it, a chance for Democrats to reject the incumbent protection plan that the congressional delegation created in 2001 (and left David Phelps with nothing) and push through a non-partisan redistricting regime. The Peoria Journal-Star is editorializing on this issue here (and is unfair to Senator Cullerton). Perhaps other papers will too.