Plan to split California into 6 states advances

[angus]

Silicon Valley would be a stupid name for a state.

Especially since it includes a whole bunch of land that isn't silicon valley.  The other four names show a lack of creativity.

[angus]

Who would this help in presidential elections.

Well, we'd get ten new senators, so 110 senators.  (Assume 8 of the 12 would be Democrat and 4 would be Republican if you want.)  110 Senators and 435 house seats + DC makes it 548.  Split that 548 up by census and do all the little rounding--estimate it by the population of the counties in the new states--and come up with number of electoral votes for each of the six states.  That should give you the answer, assuming you know which, if any, of the states would go winner take all.  That's another kink.  Some may do it like Nebraska.  

[angus]

Democrats would be hurt in the electoral college but would get a big boost in the Senate. I like this plan.

I don't think it's very realistic anyway, but it seems awfully short-sighted to evaluate this plan based on things like how many Republicans or Democrats it might add to the congress at this time, given current voting trends.  It seems to me that the economic and ecological realities of the region should be taken under consideration foremost.  Water rights is the first thing they would probably have to sort out, and that wouldn't be easy.  Also, there's higher education and medical services and taxes.  The system was built on an earlier model, and just drawing lines in the sand and naming new capitals in some grand gerrymandering scheme isn't going to solve any of the state's problems.