"Redistricting not Perfect", "Million Dollar-Plus Political Donors Rise"

Is there any question that we need MASSIVE election reform in this country? http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/electionreform.htm

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WASHINGTON (AP) - State lawmakers who reconfigured congressional maps to benefit one party over another have drawn themselves into a corner in some House districts. A handful of the newly redrawn districts are either controlled by the other party or are more competitive than expected.

Partisan redistricting following the 2000 census largely succeeded in eliminating most close races. In these instances, supporters of a state's minority party were packed into a few districts, maximizing the majority's clout in neighboring ones.

Yet in a few cases, state legislatures may have overreached, proving that drawing new political boundaries is hardly an exact science.

"The greedier you are with a partisan gerrymander, the less likely you are to get every seat you want," said Nathaniel Persily, a University of Pennsylvania law professor and redistricting expert. "One of the risks is if you spread your supporters too thin, you end up losing several seats."


http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20041028/D860DTQG0.html
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WASHINGTON (AP) - There are more people giving $1 million or more to partisan political groups now than before Congress passed a law aimed at taking seven-figure contributions out of elections, new figures show.

About five dozen people are on the list of $1 million-plus donors to partisan groups active in this year's presidential and congressional races. That compares with about three dozen during the heyday of party "soft money" in the 2002 election cycle and about two dozen in 2000, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Political Money Line campaign finance tracking service.

Some of those who wrote big checks in 2002 when national party committees and members of Congress could still accept them are giving even more now - this time to nonparty partisan groups running ads and get-out-the-vote campaigns.

The top giver is George Soros, the billionaire financier who jump-started pro-Democratic efforts to find a way to keep spending the unlimited checks the Democratic Party can no longer collect. Soros, who has given roughly $24 million to various groups opposing President Bush, said he donated so much to the so-called 527 groups to help the Democrats compete financially with Republicans.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20041028/D860DPNG0.html