“Who will win redistricting, 2011-12?” Grover Norquist responds in POLITICO’s Arena. “Republicans made great gains in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. Redistricting will make those gains more durable for the next decade. Republicans do not need to gerrymander to maintain their strong majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.The once-a-decade redistricting does not just affect the House…it also shifts power in the electoral college for presidential politics. Electoral votes are flowing to states that reliably vote Republican for president like Texas and away from those states that have been voting Democrat for president.”
From John McKinnon at The Wall Street Journal. “A few prominent GOP lawmakers believe they will have to raise some tax revenue if they are to bring Democrats along on a bipartisan compromise to address the U.S.'s long-term fiscal problems. Many Democrats want higher taxes to cover at least part of future budget gaps. That has led to clashes between Republican lawmakers and a Washington advocacy group, Americans for Tax Reform,…Grover Norquist, the group's president, said he has "sent up a flare" against placing trust in Democrats, given how bipartisan agreements, including the one struck by then-President Bush in 1990, eventually unraveled. Those tax increases took effect as scheduled, but Democrats didn't always deliver on promised spending cuts, Mr. Norquist said.”