Well, this doesn't really have to be for partisan gain. The angle I am looking more at is "what areas of the country really belong together and should be combined and which areas don't have anything in common and thus should be seperated.
1) First this I would do is take Western PA (west of the Susquahana) and combine it with Northern West Virginia and then ad on Eastern Ohio.
2) What remains of West Virgina woudl then be split between Virginia and Kentucky.
3) Take Northern Ohio (along the coast to about 30 miles in) including Cleveland and combine it with South East Michigan Including Detriot.
4) Then take what remains of Ohio (the Cinncinatti and Columbus areas) and combine them with Southern Indiana.
5) Create a semi circle that startes in along the northern boarder of Illinois (about 60 miles inland from Lake Michigan) and go in a semi-circle (south) until you hit the northern boarder of Indiana. The circle should include Chicago and all it's suburbs (but not Rockford) and South Bend. Make this a state.
6) I would split California into three seperate states roughly in thirds. The Northern section would be combined with Oregon.
7)The coastal areas (except San Diego) would be combined into one state (this line would follow roughly US-101 and extend inland about 100 miles and would include Los Angeles and San Francisco).
The third state would consist of the Central Valley, the Desert and San Diego and would include Sacramento and Bakersfield.
9) Idaho would be dismantled. The northern section would be granted to Washington and the Southern part to Utah.
10) What remained of Michigan (except the Northern Penisula) would be combined with what remained of Northern Indiana.
11) The UP of Michgan would go to Wisconsin.
I'm not finished, yet, but this is just to give an idea.
