How should lawmakers redraw political districts?

It's official! Utah has started one of the most interesting rituals in American politics: redistricting. Some (the party in control) call it a necessary readjustment of boundaries to reflect population changes. Others (the minority party) call it blatant political gerrymandering. Whatever one's perspective, politicos are asking questions.

Is there a "fair" way to redraw Congressional and Legislative boundaries?

Pignanelli: "You can't take politics out of politics, and there is nothing more political than redistricting," — Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Redistricting shares the same dynamic as tax reform — there are winners and losers — and there's nothing anyone can do about it. (The U.S. Supreme Court ruled state legislatures can redraw the boundaries for political reasons.) The number of bodies per district and the number of districts are the fundamentals in this decision-making. Everything else is sheer politics ... and tremendous entertainment (if you don't laugh at the process, you'll go crazy).

Incumbent officeholders appropriately believe that only the voters can remove them from office — not a redistricting commission — and wrestle with fellow caucus members to protect their status. Every city and county wishes to maximize representation at the State Capitol, at the expense of neighboring communities. Party leaders push to enhance or defend the ranks. Of course, there are the behind-closed-doors discussions about how to stick it to the up and coming politician who has been a nuisance.

Independent and nonpartisan commissions promise the lofty goals of respecting communities of interest, geographical compactness and ignoring incumbency. But they have not helped the minority parties in other states. The best citizens can hope for is that the media and political observers monitor the process to expose any outrageous manipulations of boundaries to benefit or harm one individual.

Webb: No matter how fair and careful lawmakers are, they will still get clobbered with complaints, because the process inherently produces winners and losers. It's impossible to escape that reality. No matter how legislators try to keep communities of interest together, the numbers will dictate that some neighborhoods are split, some cities and counties are split. It will never be "fair," but it will be legal and reasonable.

Will the Democrats really get hammered, or can they avoid it?