I don't understand how Democrats thought they would have no shot at losing the legislature, given that they lost the state House in 1994 and 1996 and only had a 5 seat majority in the Senate in the mid 1990s. Also, Dole and Bush almost certainly won a majority of seats in both houses of the legislature. Even if they screwed this up, they had a chance to rectify it by putting independent redistricting on the ballot in 2010 (they controlled the legislature and could have voted to put it on the ballot via their majorities) when polls ACTUALLY SHOWED THEM LOSING THE MAJORITIES IN BOTH CHAMBERS OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE.
If this is true, might the plans have been blocked by the safe seat conservadems who (selfish/normal) put their self-interest over long-term democratic chances in NC?
