Ohio losing two seats in Congress

[samplegirl]

Ohio losing two seats in Congress
Population loss to redraw state’s political map
December 22, 2010
TOLEDO - Ohio is one of two states losing a pair of seats in Congress as a result of the latest census figures that show it losing population to warm weather states.

Ohio and New York are the biggest losers while several other Rust Belt states, including Michigan and Pennsylvania, will lose a single seat in the U.S. House. Texas gained the most with four.

Ohio's population grew by 183,000 people over the last decade to 11.5 million, but it wasn't enough to keep up with fast-growing states in the South.

Ohio has 18 congressional districts that now will drop to 16.

Democrats stand to lose the most because Republicans who swept the state elections in November now will control the process of redrawing the congressional districts.

''Right now, there are 13 Republicans and five Democrats. Republicans would like the two-seat loss in Ohio to go to the Democrats and that would mean instead of having 13 of 18 seats, which is impressive, Republicans would have 13 of 16 seats, which is amazing to have that high of a percentage of total number of seats given the 50/50 character of the state itself,'' said Paul Sracic, chair of the political science department at Youngstown State University.

Conventional wisdom says they'll target seats now held by Democrats, but it might not be that easy.

In November, Democrats lost five out of 10 U.S. House seats they currently hold in Ohio. The remaining five are tightly packed into an area that stretches from Toledo through Cleveland and into Youngstown, including the 17th District, represented by Niles Democrat U.S. Rep. Timothy J. Ryan.

That doesn't give Republicans a lot of room to maneuver.

"We have to be realistic," said Bob Bennett, former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. "Can we really take the Democrats down to three seats in Ohio?"

It might make more sense, he said, to eliminate one Democratic and one Republican district while also shoring up GOP-held districts that are typically toss-ups.

"My fear is that we try to do too much," Bennett said. "If we do it right, we can minimize those future losses."

YSU political science professor and former department chair William Binning said Republicans are likely to squeeze Democrats Ryan, Betty Sutton in the 13th District and Dennis Kucinich in the 10th District, but when the dust settles Democrats and Republicans will lose a seat each.

''They created a problem for themselves by winning so many seats the last time around,'' Binning said.

In addition, the losses weaken Ohio's delegation in Congress,and it's importance in presidential elections by dropping Ohio's electoral votes from 20 to 18. ''We'll still be a battleground, but not a presidential maker that we were decades ago,'' Binning said.

[samplegirl]

1. As if we can afford this

[tjwash]

2. And they lost 2 electoral votes as well.

[gmoney]

3. we're fucked