> So do you think the Bushies were stupid in supporting the creation of
> majofrity-minority districts?
"Stupid" is much too strong. It's too close a call -- whether such a change benefits the GOP or the Dems. On one side you are creating safe seats which enable members to be more agressive and risk- taking in their positions and perhaps jog the inertial banality of the party, and on the other of course you are giving away some seats to the other side. I'm still ambivalent about it.
To me the bigger problem, which the m-m districts may tend to reinforce, is the attenuation of a class-based view to a more limited alliance between minorities and economically conservative, socially-liberal suburbanites.
We have a new release on our web site analyzing the polling data from the election which makes a case for a working-class orientation. As you know, pollsters like Mellman and his cronies tend to serve up prescriptions for appealing to a well-to-do middle class, at the expense of the white, non-well-to-do electorate.
MBS