Nationwide House vote totals

[Davion]

I'm engaged in a debate with a conservative friend about this election. He is claiming this proves Gerrymandering is not the evil I claim it to be. I thought I saw somewhere that the national vote totals (actual votes, not exit polls) came in somewhere around 55-44, which would be comparable to Reagan's 49-state landslide, and therefor a 30 seat pickup was far less than it should have been.

Does anyone know if someone has compiled the national House vote total yet?

[KingFlorez]

1. There was a thread about that earlier

Democrats got around 57% of the vote

[BeFree]

8. Here's a good thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=460667&mesg_id=460667

It lays out the case for millions of stolen votes in the 2006 election.

[queenbdem87]

2. it was 57% to 41% on the wikipedia page

the republicans won in 94 by liike 5 points and picked up 50 seats....we win by 16 and pick up 30....something is wrong there.

[Davion]

5. PERFECT!

Thanks. Didn't think of looking there. Silly me.

[Julien Sorel]

3. If gerrymandering is no big deal,

then your friend will see no problems with it now that Dems are drawing a majority of the maps.

[Davion]

4. Unfortunately, we have to hold our state leg. pickups until 2011

in the current GOP drawn districts, for that to be true. :banghead:

[elocs]

6. I thought the Supreme Court said redistricting did not have to be done in

in conjunction with the census. Isn't that what they did in Texas?

[Davion]

7. True, but a couple of things to note

And I'll preface this by saying that at my local Drinking Liberally club, I am known as the resident pessimist, even though my election-eve predictions were only one seat (in the House, zero in the Senate) off.

As a recent Dem convert (well in 2002, during the lead up to the idiotic war), I've learned that Dems don't always play the same dirty games the GOP does, which, in all honesty, is part of why I switched sides.

Also, many of our pickups either split the legislatures, or got a new Chamber under a GOP governor. Many of these states have lines drawn entirely by the GOP, and even a compromise-based map would be far better. But without full control of both house and the Governor's mansion, we can't do squat until 2011.

Lastly, and this is the worst bit in my opinion, many of our governors in "red" states (i.e. AZ and KS) will be term limited in 2010. So that means we need to work extra hard to hold on to them.

Did I mention I'm the resident pessimist?

[elocs]

9. A "pessimist" may just be another term for a "realist". I am a realist.

And that does not always fly well here because many seem to live in this fantasy world where just because you badly want something means if will happen regardless of the outcomes or consequences.