gerry mandering for NC12 is even a bigger joke:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=NC&district=12
....even the more ‘square’ districts in NC are very carefully gerrymandered. The democrats win 55 to 45 in many districts. The Republicans win 78 to 22 in a few districts. A reasonable estimate -- Republicans will pick up 5 to 8 U.S. house seats when NC house districts are redrawn.
I can see Dems holding any kind of NC-1 so long as it starts in the northeast corner of the state. They can hold NC-13 in the far west (Shuler is building a dynasty and doing it quite intelligently). Other than that, there’s no reason R’s shouldn’t, as you suggest, sweep the resto of the NC districts if they were decently configured. This is not a Democrat state, necessarily, nor a Republican one. It is decidedly a conservative state with a heavy Democrat heritage. The two used to go together but now play against each other. People are doing their best to struggle through their cognitive dissonance to do the right thing.
Wow! Is there a chance that draft dodging Dave Price will lose his district? Also, is there any way the Left can block redistricting. How about redistricting the state house and state senate? Is there a possibility on redrawing lines making the current gains permanent?