Franchot is building himself quite an interesting platform these past few months.

That fact is in the second sentence of this story. I am against it as well.

Are you joking? The Republicans have done the same thing when they are in office at the time of redistricting in other states.

Let's stop with the 'one party monopoly' BS and realize that Maryland likes the Democrats because:

1. They are slightly liberal (which matches them with the majority demographic of Maryland).
2. They have been able to do things right when elected.
3. They don't lie anywhere near as much as Republicans do.

Christopher - This isn't a partisan issue and two wrongs don't make a right. The construct of local districts is built around the idea of allowing communities' voices to be aggregated to the state/federal government level. The process of defining districts to give an advantage to one political party or the other (in this case) destroys that original construct. It's a problem across the country, red or blue, that needs to be addressed.

Texas - you mean where the same corruption exists, just Pro-Republican gerrymandering instead?

Go ahead then. Enjoy.

Hey Tim, You can keep inviting us republicans to leave the state which I am by the way. But soon you and the rest of the uninformed 99% of the time wrong democrats will be left here to soak in your own filth. Enjoy the highest of everything bad i.e. Taxes, gas prices, crime, murder....

There is two party rule. Tell your Republican leaders to suck less at elections.

If the Republicans want to win elections, then have more candidates like Councilman David Marks.

John Doe, thank you!

I have already written against the map: http://perryhall.patch.com/blog_posts/a-no-vote-on-question-5-governor-omalleys-redistricting-map.

I also concede that this type of gerrymandering goes on in Republican-controlled states, but we can't change that here in Maryland. The voters should tell Governor O'Malley and the state legislature to do a better job drawing these lines.

and this is why David's easy to vote for. He's not one of those 'out there' candidates we find in both parties these days.

This map is just ridiculous, no matter which party dreamed it up. There is no possible good outcome to come from it, except for the Democratic Party. While I am a strong Democrat, this is shameful.
Candidates should win elections on their good, solid platforms, not party tricks.

And Tim, I wholeheartedly agree. If more Republicans were like David Marks, I would be more likely to vote for them. As it is, this bunch of "out there" Republicans has gone over the edge, unwilling to compromise, more likely to do what is profitable for big corporations, while leaving the middle class holding the bag.

I've tried to "tell my Republican leaders". They need to anser their phones. Also, this state is so blue that there are conservative politicians that are registered as Democrats knowing that if they were Republicans they wouldn't get elected.

Tim, There will never be two party rule in Maryland because republicans won't buy votes with tax payer money. If the day ever came that republicans were for unlimited handouts like welfare then the party would cease to exist as it has here in Maryland. Unfortunately democrats have no solutions to any problems so they vilify anyone that wants to do anything that would work like stop spending. Instead they just offer ignorant people handouts to vote for them. There's a place that show's us where Maryland is headed and it's called California.

Steve, you are once again showing off your ignorance and complete lack of concern for providing facts to support your blind false assumptions or accusations. Congressman Harris held several town hall meetings and attended numerous public events in the new areas of his district on the west side of the bay within the first few weeks following the redistricting map being passed.

But why let the truth get in the way of your own ignorance.

Gee Steve, perhaps you should. But then you would have to actually do your homework before blessing us all with more of your witless nonsense.

Of course Republicans win white, rural areas. And the sky is blue. Problem the Republican Party has is the country is growing less white and more educated. I suspect a massive jump towards the middle in the next few elections, which will be refreshing. I'd love for the party to start putting up more candidates that don't make me either laugh or cringe.

You can't just arbitrarily throw out 33% of the total voters, Steve. That's not how this country works.
The same counterargument could be made by Democrats. It's a logically poor argument.
In the 2010 Gubernatorial Election, only 1.7 million people voted.

In 2006, it was 1.8 million.. Maryland has a total population of 5.6 million.

Instead, how about you blame those who were too lazy to vote. Or perhaps that'd make it more Democratic? Impossible for anyone without decades of pollster experience to say.

When I said they suck at elections - it's true. The party is just terrible at elections at a state level.

The Maryland HoD has 141 seats. 70% of them are owned by Democrats.
The Sentae has 44 seats. Again, 70% owned by Democrats.

That's far, far more then any bias you'd want to assume or glean from voting records.
You want to make it sound like all of Maryland is firmly conservative outside of three densely populated counties.
Reality, however, doesn't back up your claims.

------------------------------------------------
Dis-regard my first response at 11:58am. It was a bad cut/paste. Occasionally I write up responses off of the website when I know they'll be longer then normal. A 'preview post' button would be a welcome addition down the line.

Funny, people who don't vote like you are stupid, they probably think the same of you. They're right.

Tim, simple solution, go delete the first one.

FIFA: Yeah it was odd, I didn't have the ability to do so earlier.

...and that's the mentality that leads Republicans to defeat, over and over.

Perhaps it's time admit that the MAJORITY of Americans don't like your positions, Richard, and move towards positions that the MAJORITY do like, instead of your minority.

The best republican candidate could run in this state and be defeated because so many people in this state just vote for the D besides someones name. Another is name recognition. How much experience did John Sarbanes have except his father's last name?

The best democratic candidate could run in this state in Republican areas and be defeated because so many people in this part of the state just vote for the R besides someones name.

Great analysis there Jim T.

Except when the Dems offered Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Oy! Ehrlich won by default.

Putting her up clearly did not reflect well on the Democratic Party. But we fixed it second time around.

don't think so. The republicans often win in areas other than Montgomery, Prince Georges, and Baltimore counties. It's just that those other areas don't have as many people!

One can only hope Dr. Harris is next.

Then we as voters reject it again until they get it right! Hold the politicians accountable.

Exactly Richard. Excessive gerrymandering is bad policy, party regardless.

O'Malley has no shame. He only wants to become president. He advances from one office to another without doing the previous job properly.

As compared to relight wing nut jobs. Fool

Folks moved to Carroll County because the Klan still marches and Rising Sun is too far away. Two good reasons.

Bravo !!!

Cynthia - they aren't going to wake up. That's the sad reality. Regardless of the party you stand for out of the two of them, neither are truly serious at attacking the real problem this country has - it's debt.

A couple of points. One, Frederick County is more like Montgomery than it is like Allegany or Garrett. Two, there aren't enough people in western Maryland to fill out a congressional district. So either the district swings south into Montgomery or it swings east into Carroll and western Howard and northern Baltimore. Both options are mild gerrymanders, but in a state that is overwhelmingly Democratic and where the redistricting process is controlled by Democrats, it makes sense that they took the option that works out best for Democrats. I understand that that makes Republicans in western Maryland break down in tears and question God's mercy.

That district, the 6th, is relatively compact and coherent. The districts that people are really questioning are the 2nd, 3rd, and 7th around Baltimore, and then the 4th and 8th in Montgomery and Prince George's. Those gerrymanders (and they are gerrymanders) are all about incumbent protection. Which is an issue, but a pretty small one, imho. These almost certainly will be our districts for the next decade, no matter how the vote turns out or how much anguish this causes Republicans or civics teachers.

Matt - Please take a look at district 4 again. I'm having a hard time figuring out how central AA county demographics line up with western PG county... for what it's worth, I think the southern part of what is now district 2 should be incorporated into the "western shore" portion of district 1 and the whole of district 3

Sure, yeah, the 4th is gerrymandered. I don't think anyone would dispute that. The point is -- so what? Do you really think that people in adjoining counties are that dramatically different? So different that one person couldn't possibly hope to represent both AA and PG?

That's exactly my contention, yes. I realize that's a debatable point, but my argument (in this case at least) is that the difference in local policy as well as budget allocation (read: priorities) between counties makes them a natural demographic separator. Montgomery and PG counties are adjoining and I don't think anyone would argue that they are the least bit similar - neither in terms of demographics nor county priorities.

I realize that relative to other ballot issues this November, redistricting isn't a huge deal. It just gets on my nerves, I guess.

John: Tea partiers like these (and not limited to this group) are why I'm not voting for Romney. If it were not for the Tea Party and the fervent adherence to the Norquist Pledge, I'd be voting for Romney.

It's not that Obama's done a great job. His first two years were as bad as GWB before him. He's done well, on balance, since then. However, the damage to the Republican party had been done.
Now, the Republican party is back to being part of the problem - just like in the past decade that led us here.

The four of them together are nowhere near as duplicitous as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic "leadership".

Tim - exactly.

"The four of them together are nowhere near as duplicitous as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi"

Is this a joke? Duplicitous? What on earth has lil ol' Harry Reid ever done to you?

Ditto Tim. When a party gets way off base like the republicans have with the Tea Party influence, you want to run. In Canada they elected a 3rd party and nearly crushed the conservative party about 20 years ago. Since then they learned their lesson and got more in line.

oh and trust me, I was no more a fan of the Democrats in the first two years of Obama's term then this group.

However, past is past, we have real problems that require forward thinking. Forward thinking Republicans in Congress refuse to do.

LOL exactly.
The Tea Party has no one to blame but themselves for Reid's continued existence in the senate.

Hit the nail on the head. They keep on dodging and saying "Democrats shouldn't play that game!" but there is a time where you have to play that game because it either play or wake up with a knife in your back, dead in your bed.

That is what it has come to in America today, the Rethuglicans have lowered the level SOOOOOO much that you have to stoop to their level because you are fighting against demons that wouldn't blink at eating a 2 year old whole.

Wow. Demons who eat children. This is a new one. Ithink it may be time to up your meds.

Lil tommy clearly has never served in the military. lil tommy clearly doesn't think for himself. Looks like lil,tommy was never "aloud" to think for himself, moron.

lil tommy, chickens hawk. Representative of Republicans, wow.

Right in one, FIFA. Republicans are chicken-hawks, always willing to send other people's children into battle but never willing to send their own children.

Frankly, I am of the opinion that anyone who supports an armed intervention in a foreign nation should have their family members and friends drafted first and made to go over to X nation to fight.

I agree. I wonder how fast they'd have declared war on Iraq and Afghanistan (err I mean "terror") if they were required to re-institute the draft.

Or, you know, actually implement a war tax for everyone to pay. So we wouldn't have an extra 5 trillion and growing on our national debt.

above and beyond the un-necessary loss of life and family hardships of soldiers fighting for 'freedom'.

I think you guys are getting desperate now that there is an identifiable trend in Mitts direction.

We've got people talking about Republicans eating children, and not serving in the military. The next two weeks will be fun to watch.

Oh, by the way I am a Republican with 8 years of service.

I'll forgive you for being a Republican and I always appreciate those who chose/choose to serve. I will never appreciate people like TOMMY that speak derisively about those that did serve.

According to TOMMY, Chris you would be a good candidate to be a Democrat, just sayin'.

PS - Obama wins electoral college by 30.

Where is Sarah Palin when you need her?

I don't need anyone's forgiveness for my political leanings. I think Tommy's point is the lock step nature of democrats in this state. When Obama was running for election, anyone who voiced opposition risked being labeled a racist. Yet when Michael Steele was running for congress, all theses folks that are so concerned about race quickly went over to Ben Cardin (the old white dude).

TOMMY's point was, and I quote, "Since you were in the service, you did what you were told to do, you weren't aloud to think.' That includes you according to TOMMY.

You said, " When Obama was running for election, anyone who voiced opposition risked being labeled a racist."

The curious part of that statement is that as a person like me, who is a relatively "old white dude" that hangs out with other "old white dudes" would routinely those "old white dudes" say, "I'm not voting for that [insert your favorite n-word here]." It is a sad thing to admit that I hung/hang around with "old white dudes" that would talk and think like that. They do. It is a large part of our society, still today that will continue for years to come.

Any "old white dude" that does not admit those discussions were/are a regular occurrence is being disingenuous.

Also amazing is your belief that democrats have a "lockstep" nature. Have you seen the US Senate Republican filibusters? Wow, talk about "lockstep", that's your party.

Your post is exactly why I support this gerrymandered unfair new map. You make Christopher Kidwell's earlier point precisely.

I don't care if you support it or not as I won't be around long enough to see the effects. But as long as you're so happy with the way things are done around here then you'll be happy knowing that people like me (conservative republican) won't be around to help you pay for all this crap you people come up with. It's funny because its history repeating itself and democrats are always on the wrong side of it. California is a prime example of what happens when democrats have full control. It won't be long before Maryland is in California's shoes. So go ahead and keep voting for the party that screws everything up they put their hands on because I'll be enjoying life amongst people that really get things done and don't see all the negative effects of doing things from a fairytale book.

Bye ;-)

lil tommy, small t emphasized. Keep talking, you embarrass yourself and your party. Glad you post. Rob would like some company I bet.

The writing skills of most 5th graders far exceed yours. Go "Libia". LOL, moron.