Stan Rosenberg of Amherst is on the committee and is good friends with John Olver, the Berkshires' congressman, so he's going to try to maintain two seats in Western Mass.
Howie Carr keeps saying that there just aren't enough people out there to make that work. Olver's district extends from the New York border to the suburbs of Lowell -- an exaggeration, but not much of one.
The earlier talk was that Barney Frank might be the one to lose his district, with New Bedford thrown in with the Cape district and his Boston-Newton territory tossed in with one of the Boston area districts. Maybe the committee will go that way, though Frank must have a lot of clout in the party by now.
Maybe you’re right. Berkshire 131K; Franklin 71K; Hampden 463K; Hampshire 158K - Total 824K, enough for 1 CD plus 96646 left over. Worcester Co. is 798K+. If the 3rd goes west from Worcester, it could capture Springfield. Then other CD’s would have to mop up the remaining 168K of Worcester County.