In 1980, the democrats drew the state legislative and congressional gerrymander. Even though we were a reliable Republican state then, we had Willie Brown as Assembly Speaker, we had a majority Dem legisture and a majority Dem congressional delegation. Because of the gerrymander.
In 1991, Wilson vetoed the dem gerrymander and a panel of judges drew the district lines. Our congressional delegation was almost even (23 dems, 22 reps I think) and the dems held the legislature by a slim margin (41-39 or 42-38) The judges did pretty well for us.
There will always be a republican foothill district - gerrymandering can't turn the reliable Placer County GOP into leftists. Doolittle should quit worrying.
Thanks for refreshing my memory on this.