Regarding states and rules, here are my thoughts - doing every state is definitely a daunting task, but I'm willing to if other people are down. My other idea was to have a Commission A and Commission B - Democrats would be split between the commissions, while Republicans and indies would serve on both commissions. Each commission would draw the maps for randomly selected states with roughly equal district counts. This could make it easier to cover every state. Alternatively, we could select one or a few medium sized states to do. For rules, I definitely agree that while we should pass guidelines they should not be set in stone (i.e. feel free to interpret them in ways favorable to your party and try to argue these points to the commission). For map drawing, it's possible that first draft duties are split evenly between members - and, I concur that a decent period for revisions, both within factions and among the greater commission, will greatly add to the experience.
I like option two, especially to get through every state. Last time around, there were like 30 interested participants. Why not split that down into several groups of 4-6 people to discuss and pass maps for all 50 states? Divide the states into groups and let people choose the group of states that interests them most. Maybe use weighted voting for every participant to have a final up/down vote on every map or send back to committee.
