For most sane people, Summertime is Vacationtime; for legislators, it’s Conferencetime. (For Virginia legislators, of course, it’s Conferencetime and SpecialSessiontime.)

This weekend I was able to break away from the doldrums of the transportation wheel-spinning in Richmond to attend the Democratic Leadership Council’s “National Conversation” in my hometown of Chicago. The DLC describes itself as a “reform movement that is reshaping American politics by moving it beyond the old left-right debate.” It provided much of the intellectual firepower for the Clinton presidency, and, with the Obama-Clinton primary season just concluded, I was concerned that I would see evidence of  lingering animosity among former Clinton partisans. But that wasn’t the case: at least in public, all the participants were looking forward to the promise and potential of an Obama presidency.

Coming on the heels of our Indecision 2008 in Richmond, one session seemed particularly pertinent: it was a discussion of nonpartisan redistricting, highlighted by a DLC study on the impact of gerrymandering. On a policy level, gerrymandered districts lead to the gridlock we’re experiencing in Richmond. The report, which focuses on gerrymandering of Congressional districts, notes, “In large measure, today’s stalemate is the result of partisan gerrymandering. The boundaries that separate districts hew to the partisan advantage of one party or the other, encouraging members of Congress to play to their party’s base, rather than the broad center of the electorate.”

Coincidentally, the same theme was picked up locally this weekend by Richmond savant Jeff Schapiro, who (in the course of prematurely proclaiming the irrelevancy of Governor Kaine) observed, “Redistricting only makes it easier for Kaine’s opponents to resist him. Nowhere is this more evident than in the House, where a Republican majority, though reduced, endures because of the artful manner in which it drew districts in 2001. . .Republicans created, in effect, minority districts wherein narrow bands of the electorate, often anti-tax conservatives, have disproportionate influence. The key to winning and holding such House seats: sucking up to the right. It’s not always a pretty sight, but survival compels it.”

The DLC study also analyzes the impact of gerrymandered districts (at the Congressional level) on decreased voter participation. The basic idea is simple: if you don’t think your vote matters, because the lines are drawn to guarantee either the victory or the defeat of your favored candidate, you’re less likely to bother to vote. By the study’s reckoning, Virginia was the fourth least competitive state at the Congressional level in 2002 (after Massachusetts, Arkansas, and Nebraska). That ranking is perverse testament to the skill of our partisan line drawers in the previous year’s redistricting.

By 2006 (due largely, I think, to demographic shifts within the state), our ranking had dropped — or risen, depending on how you look at it — to 17th in the nation. (Iowa, which is the model of nonpartisan redistricting nationwide, was among the most competitive states in both years.)

 

 

We heard a lot about audits in the past few days. “We can’t possibly fix transportation now,” we were told. “We have to have an audit first.” There’s nothing wrong with the audit bills introduced (see here and here).

Except that they are no reason to delay action. Since 2001, there have been no fewer than EIGHT audits of VDOT. Including one that focused specifically on the maintenance deficit.

That was introduced, well, by me. In compliance with HB 2838, VDOT dutifully reported its findings to our own oversight agency, the Joint Legislative Review and Audit Committee last September. The figures show we have a maintenance deficit.

After yesterday’s contentious Rules Committee meeting, there is perhaps not a lot of hope for a transportation funding solution.

But we might pass another audit.

Slate foresees the death of the semicolon.

The author observes, “. . . in 1848 Edgar Allan Poe declared himself ‘mortified’ by printers once again using too many semicolons. Poe may have the distinction of being the last writer to complain of the semicolon’s popularity.” And we all know what happened to him.

That’s the formula for the happiest day of the year. Which today, apparently, is. The formula (O is for outdoors, N is for Nature, S is for socialization with neighbors, Cpm stands for childhood pleasant memories, He represents holiday expected) was created by British psychologist Cliff Arnall.

He also figures that a date in late January is the most depressing day of the year.

Word is that Kenton Ngo — aging Wunderkind, electoral cartographer and number cruncher extraordinaire, and proprietor of “750 Volts” — will be attending the 2008 Democratic National Convention as one of three official Virginia Delegation pages. (Read about Kenton’s adventures at this year’s Shad Planking here.)

Also named as a page in the “young at heart” category was former Delegate Alan Diamonstein, who began his General Assembly career during the administration of Governor Thomas Jefferson.

 (Image is from an October 2006 Virginian Pilot profile of Kenton when he was all of 15)

Mine was great. The kids took me to King’s Dominion. One bumper car ride;  four roller coasters;  nobody got sick. Perfect.

From Joe Klein:

“. . . even at the top of his profession, he never lost track of his roots — in part, because he never lost track of his dad, Big Russ, a Buffalo sanitation worker who survives him. Tim would review his Sunday questions with Big Russ in mind, always asking himself, ‘What would dad want to know?’ About ten years ago, he decided to buy his father a car. ‘Buy anything you want, Dad,’ Tim offered. Big Russ picked a Ford. ‘So I said, to him, “Dad, you can get a Mercedes — anything you want,” Tim told me later. ‘But he says, “No Timmy, I want a Crown Vic. That’s what the cops drive.”‘

Tim Russert was both a tough questioner and a civil moderator. Above all, he loved politics and admired the women and men who play the game.

From the AP:

“Gilmore called Warner an ‘elite limousine liberal,’ a ‘naif’ on foreign policy, and ‘piranha’ hungry for tax money.”

“Limousine.” “Naif.” “Piranha.” Three slurs, three foreign words: Who’s the elitist?

I voted at 9:30. I was voter number 32. Typically by this time, there would be about 500 voters at my precinct. Anecdotal evidence from around the district suggests that this is pretty much the turnout everywhere. (Except Danchai, my aide, voted at 9 and he was number voter number 8!)

I am wondering if any of you have thoughts on why turnout in this election is so Gawdawful.

We’ve had a spirited primary race here in the 11th. Was it too negative?

The Mt. Vernon Committee has signs up along the highways reminding people that today is election day. Combine that with all the mail and the phone calls and no one could say they were unaware that today was Election Day.

Is it voter fatigue? Or is it just the heat? Share your thoughts.

I decided months ago that I would support Sen. Obama. But as this race went on (and on and on), I developed increasing respect for Sen. Clinton. No matter how many times people tried to count her out, she just wouldn’t quit.

Today, her speech endorsing Sen. Obama struck, it seems to me, all the right notes. She acknowledged the sadness some women feel that there won’t be a woman in the Oval Office next year. But she also clearly laid out the reasons why we as Democrats have to come together.

I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure we have a Democrat in the White House come January 20, 2009 (and could it come quickly, please?) Thanks to Hillary Clinton’s gracious speech today, I think there will be a lot more people working for that same goal.