Further revisions to the House (Franklin) map.

A 2-19-05 post discussed some tweaking that had been done to the House (Franklin) redistricting map. Today the PI discusses these and further revisions in this map:

"The adjustments Franklin has made to his map include:

• Wrapping Clarke County and Democrat incumbent John Barrow of Athens into a 7th District dominated by Republican stalwart John Linder;

• A juiced-up 8th District that would give Westmoreland a Bush re-elect figure of 64 percent. Democrat Jim Marshall of Macon remains paired with Westmoreland, but most of his geographical support would be stripped away. It's hoped that such numbers would send Marshall packing;

• Nine districts that have a Bush re-elect rating of at least 60 percent. Seven that have a rating of no less than 64 percent; and

• And two empty seats that would whet the appetite of any number of congressional wannabes who now reside in the Legislature."

The PI further reports:

"We've also gotten at some of the motivation for an alternative to the map drawn by the G-7. (That's the name Republican members of Georgia's delegation have given themselves.) In the Senate version, more than one strategist noticed, the 6th District of U.S. Rep. Tom Price of Roswell, newly elected to his seat, had been drawn so that it might discourage any further challenges from Cobb County candidates.

"Robert Lamutt . . . , who lost to Price in a 2004 run-off [is from east Cobb]. Lamutt was very much present at Saturday's annual meeting of the Georgia Christian Coalition. And he had much to say about the strong points of Franklin's map."

In my 2-19-05 post I noted I was going against current conventional thinking and predicting that the Legislature would end up adopting the House map rather than the Senate map, with the revisions noted and of course "some additional adjustments reflecting horse-trading and personal choices that will require minor revisions a bit here and bit there."

I am staying out on the limb, as my thinking remains the same.

The House Reapportionment Committee meets today to take up the topic of congressional redistricting, and a vote on the above revised map is planned for Wednesday.