Tom DeLay's redistricting jihad continues on, despite little support outside of the Republicans in the state House. Speaker Tom Craddick has promised to allow a vote on the House floor, but with no enthusiasm from Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and not enough votes to bring the issue up in the Senate, it's likely to die a quiet death. Of course, with the budget still unsettled and Dewhurst pushing his school finance reform, redistricting may well get lost in the shuffle anyway, as there are only four weeks left in the legislative session.

The Burnt Orange Report has an analysis of what the proposed new districts would look like, plus pointers to articles on how redistricting would affect San Antonio and Austin.

One thing to keep in mind through all this is that Republicans have used the fact that 56% of Texans cast votes for GOP Congressional candidates in 2002, yet only 47% of the seats are held by Republicans, as a reason for redistricting. (I quibbled with the math on that.) If that's the case, then why do the various plans give the Republicans as many as 20 seats, which is 62.5% of the total? Wouldn't a "fair" solution give the Republicans 56% of the seats, which is 18 out of the 32? When Ralph Hall retires in 2004, the GOP will be up to an even 16 without any cartographical shenanigans, and they have hopes to knock off a couple more Democratic incumbents. Of course, this isn't about "fairness" but about Tom DeLay getting what he wants. He has until June 2 to make it happen.