Kevin Drum points out that partisan gerrymandering is probably opposed by almost everyone in the country, except for those that can actually do something about it: the politicians in power. I wrote about two possible solutions to this problem last December. One, advocated by Sebastian Holsclaw, is nonpartisan (race-blind) computer programmed districting. Such a system is currently used in Iowa. The other, which I would prefer and has been mentioned by Matt Yglesias, is multi-member districts.
Kevin points us to Legal Fiction which is rather pessimistic Congress will over do anything about this since the parties themselves have an interest in keeping safe seats. I think the battle is uphill, but has a chance. Congress managed to pass a campaign finance reform bill despite the convential wisdom that the parties had no interest in such reforms. What matters is getting the groundswell of support from the people. Even in a state where one party controls the districting, I think it's possible to convince people out of a sense of fairness to change the system. This is an area where a third party or independent candidate can at least push the issue forward.
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