Unintended Consequences

This was a good editorial that appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times this morning regarding the recently-ended campaign for the PA-08 U.S. House seat still occupied by Mike Fitzpatrick for a few more weeks, though Patrick Murphy will be sworn into office replacing Mikey in January (I had been meaning to point this out).

Isn't it ironic? When the 8th Congressional district was last redrawn (with Republicans in charge) several years ago, it was purposely gerrymandered to include slivers of Montgomery County and Philadelphia.

The thinking obviously was that popular Bucks County congressman Jim Greenwood never would have to worry about the potential number of Democratic votes from those two areas because he was protected by the large GOP registration edge in Bucks. And putting Democratic voters into the 8th could perhaps help a Republican colleague in a neighboring district.

Sweet it must be then for the Democratic Party, then, that the bed the Republicans made for themselves with their "creative" redistricting was full of bugs last Tuesday, when challenger Patrick Murphy unseated incumbent Michael Fitzpatrick on the strength of Democratic votes from Montgomery County and Philadelphia - the so-called "Greenwood gash."

According to unofficial numbers, Fitzpatrick won by more than a thousand votes in Bucks, which makes up virtually all of the district and which witnessed virtually all of the campaign sparring between the two candidates. But Murphy prevailed sufficiently in the non-Bucks portions of the district to tip the election in his favor.

The lesson for both parties here might be this: Beware of engaging in funny business when redrawing congressional boundaries.

Of course, Murphy's victory cannot be attributed entirely to how the district was drawn. The candidate did run a very competitive race in Bucks, a far cry from some of the challengers who went up against Greenwood during his 12 years in office. There was also a general and widespread dissatisfaction with Republican policies this year, particularly having to do with the war in Iraq.

There's no telling which party will have the upper hand when the next congressional redistricting takes place after the 2010 census. But both should look back on Election 2006 for guidance on what can happen when district maps take on the look of abstract art.

Yep (and by the way, I meant to add this link earlier; it seems that resistance from some neighbors over the proposed veterans cemetery in Upper Makefield, Pa. helped undo Fitzpatrick also).