# Hillary goes down: what happens next? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 19, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-goes-down-what-happens-next/720381 "2015-05-19T18:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-goes-down-what-happens-next/720381/102 "2015-05-26T17:35:25Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > (post shortened) > > The Democrat Party in Chicago really knows how to gerrymander. All of the other gerrymanders bow down to Chicago Democrat Party gerrymandering. > > _So what is one of the worst examples of gerrymandering in the country? What is the example that the national media uses when talking about gerrymandering? Illinois’ congressional district 4, including parts of Chicago, represented by congressman Luis Gutierrez. Check out the map_ (at the link below) _and tell me if you don’t think this is the most ridiculous political game ever. Apparently they had to run the district through the middle of Interstate 294 so that they could maintain a contiguous area of homogenous constituents_. > > [http://www.chicagonow.com/getting-real/2011/11/illinois-congressional-district-4-worst-case-of-gerrymandering](http://www.chicagonow.com/getting-real/2011/11/illinois-congressional-district-4-worst-case-of-gerrymandering) There was some congressional district somewhere (I don’t think it was this one) that went to ridiculous lengths to create a majority-black district. The district followed a highway, picking up small disconnected areas on either side. The joke was that you could drive down the highway with your doors open and hit everyone in the district. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-goes-down-what-happens-next/720381/103 "2015-05-26T18:12:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well, if you don’t approve, end racial gerrymandering and Democrats will be in the majority in Congress again. With 98% white representatives. So it all depends on how much you’re willing to sell our your principles. _My_ principles? Which of _my_ principles would I be selling out if I had the magic power to “end racial gerrymandering” (even if I remotely accepted the premise that the current situation is entirely due to racial gerrymandering, which it patently isn’t)? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-goes-down-what-happens-next/720381/104 "2015-05-26T18:30:47Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > There was some congressional district somewhere (I don’t think it was this one) that went to ridiculous lengths to create a majority-black district. The district followed a highway, picking up small disconnected areas on either side. The joke was that you could drive down the highway with your doors open and hit everyone in the district. [North Carolina’s 12th District.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina%27s_12th_congressional_district) > [@](#): > > It was very long and so thin at some points that it was no wider than a highway lane, as it followed Interstate 85 almost exactly. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-goes-down-what-happens-next/720381/105 "2015-05-26T18:37:22Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > There was some congressional district somewhere (I don’t think it was this one) that went to ridiculous lengths to create a majority-black district. The district followed a highway, picking up small disconnected areas on either side. The joke was that you could drive down the highway with your doors open and hit everyone in the district. Members of the Democrat Party gerrymander. Members of the Republican Party gerrymander. Gerrymandering can be partisan, and it can also achieve goals for ethnic representation. If you were to believe the Democrats, “only” Republicans gerrymander. Which is pure horsepoop but makes for a good sound-bite. If you study the Illinois 4th Congressional District, the district was created to enable a Spanish-speaking constituency to elect a Spanish-speaking, and looking, representative. If they end racial gerrymandering, Democrat Rep Luis Gutierrez will be forced to look for honest work. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-goes-down-what-happens-next/720381/106 "2015-05-26T19:12:26Z")
There are two kinds of gerrymandering, that intended to produce partisan advantage, and that intended to produce incumbent advantage. Oddly enough, these often work at cross purposes to each other. But both are bad, and should be stopped. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-goes-down-what-happens-next/720381/107 "2015-05-26T19:43:17Z")
And since we’re talking about the presidential election here, gerrymandering is moot. Except maybe in Nebraska and Maine, but what do they matter? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-goes-down-what-happens-next/720381/108 "2015-05-26T20:05:30Z")
It meant 1 more EV for Obama in Nebraska in 2008, but they’ve since repealed their law. Maine’s 2 districts have not split since they passed theirs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-goes-down-what-happens-next/720381.md?page=5)