April 15, 2011 07:17 PM UTC

Redistricting D-Day!

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by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: It was so hard to keep these from you, folks. Unembargoed at last:

“City Integrity 4” – Democratic proposed map with detail (old districts outlined in blue)

After the jump: five more Democratic maps, two proposed maps from Republican Dave Balmer with Denver metro-area detail, and three maps from House Speaker Frank McNulty and his friends. We’ll update shortly with some initial thoughts: early notables include peril for Rep. Mike Coffman, and a fairly brazen move in the Balmer maps to shift Democrats in eastern portions of Wheat Ridge away from swing CD-7 and into CD-1.

It’s clear that the ~~two~~ three sides are pretty far from a deal based on these maps, but Democrats have certainly come up with the more original proposal–everything we’ve seen so far would seem to validate the idea that Democrats want to “think big” on redistricting, while Republicans are seeking small, incremental changes favorable to their incumbents.

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Today’s the big day for congressional redistricting in Colorado: proposed maps from the Joint Select Committee on Redistricting will be made public on adjournment today. We’ve got a significant amount of embargoed information as well that we’ll be posting once the hold is released.

In the meantime, we can tell you that Democrats led by Sen. Rollie Heath have come up with six map proposals they’ll be releasing today, and their consistent theme is “city integrity, rural county integrity”–and competitive districts. Republicans on the committee led by Rep. Dave Balmer have two maps to release, and we’ve just learned that House Speaker Frank McNulty–who Lynn Bartels of the Denver paper reported earlier this week was conferring with top GOP redistricting operatives from the last round–has put together three map proposals of his (their) own. Beyond that, we’re obliged to wait for the committee members to make their statements.

Once the committee hearing begins, we’ll update with real, live maps that we assure you we can’t wait to share–and much more information. Stay tuned!

Democrats – “City Integrity 1”