California vs. the Gerrymander: Why Republicans Are Quaking    •
Share   • Read Later Damian Dovarganes / AP  American and
Mexican flags fly at a car dealership in Santa Ana, Calif. A new
redistricting effort is meant to reflect the state's demographic
changes of the past decade  Redistricting. The word doesn't
sound exciting. The dictionary doesn't spice it up too much
either: "to divide anew into districts; specifically: to revise
the legislative districts of." To the average person, this might
be the "single least interesting word in the English language,"
says Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of
Politics at the University of Southern California. "But if
you're a politician, those lines are a matter of life and
death."  And so it is in the U.S.'s most populous state, where
efforts to redraw the political map may mean Republicans will
face more peril than their counterparts in the next elections.
Some analysts predict the changes will cost them seats in the
U.S. House, which would help D