Welcome to this week’s edition of REDMAP Rundown, a synopsis of redistricting news brought to you by the RSLC’s REDistricting MAjority Project (REDMAP).  This weekly update gives you the latest on what those in the Beltway, and across the country, are saying about the impending reapportionment and redistricting process.

In this week’s REDMAP Rundown: Democrat darkness, Alabama’s handshake and the state legislative coattails of Obama and Blago.

Politics Daily’s Lou Cannon kicks off, writing, “Republicans are … optimistic about gaining seats in the 88 legislative chambers (of a total of 99) for which there are elections this year. These legislative elections will determine which party holds the upper hand in the 2011 congressional and legislative reapportionments that will be based on the 2010 census. Several legislative bodies are closely balanced, among them the Texas House, which Republicans control by a two-seat margin. Texas is the largest prize in the redistricting sweepstakes; it will gain four additional House seats (for a total of 36) because of population increases.  Republicans are favored to hold the Texas House and are in no apparent danger of losing any other legislative body they now control. Democrats, in contrast, are playing defense in attempting to hold onto at least a dozen chambers. ‘It looks dark for the Democrats,’ says Tim Storey, a political analyst for the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL). … Now, with the pendulum swinging back, Republicans stand to gain some 500 legislative seats.

“Republican candidates hoping to end Democratic dominance of the Alabama Legislature unveiled an agenda Monday,” according to The Associated Press. “House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard, who’s also chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, said all Republican candidates for the Legislature are supporting the ‘2010 Republican Handshake with Alabama,’ and its passage depends on Republicans taking control of the Legislature for the first time in 136 years. To try to accomplish that, GOP candidates are doing more than saying what they will do. Hubbard said they are tying Alabama Democrats to Washington to capitalize on voters’ uneasiness with the national economy and dislike of some new federal policies, particularly health care. ‘The Democrats in Alabama are no different than the Democrats in Washington. They have the same philosophy,’ said state Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston. Marsh, the GOP’s state finance chairman, was one of 17 legislative candidates who joined Hubbard to unveil the legislative agenda.”

“With less than three months until Election Day 2010, Republicans celebrated one of the most hard fought special elections – at any level – with the victory of Sam Blakeslee for California’s 15th Senate District. Blakeslee’s marks the 62nd state legislative special election victory for Republicans, nationwide, since President Barack Obama was elected. While Democrats hold a six-point voter registration advantage in the 15th District, Blakeslee topped Democrat John Laird 48 percent to 44 percent.  The race, which was the determining factor in whether Democrats would be one step closer to achieving a super-majority in the senate, became a preview of Democrat efforts, drawing millions of dollars spent by liberal interests and heavy involvement from President Barack Obama.”  Hotline On Call noted, “Here’s the rub: Dems outnumber Republicans 41% to 34% in the district and the Dem in the race – former Assemblyman John Laird – was backed by…wait for it..Pres. Obama. Blakeslee was backed by GOP Gov. nominee Meg Whitman.”

In Illinois, The Associated Press repots, “The unfinished business of the Blagojevich trial poses a major new hurdle for Illinois Democrats, who already are facing a difficult election season. After hoping Blagojevich’s trial would wrap up well before the November vote, a retrial could begin in the final weeks of campaigning. … Republicans are counting on voters to be angry about Blagojevich. The GOP says it won’t have to keep harping on him because voters will have plenty of reminders. ‘I think maybe in their minds they can say, I’ll send my own guilty verdict so to speak and my own message by voting for Republicans in the fall,’ said Illinois House Republican leader Tom Cross. ‘I don’t know that we need to say that. It’s not like Rod Blagojevich is going to be hiding in the back room over the next two months.’”

The RSLC is the only national organization whose mission is to elect down ballot state-level Republican office-holders. To sign up for the REDMAP Rundown, or for more information or media inquiries, please contact Adam Temple at 571.480.4891.