In an apparent attempt to follow their Dear Leader's example on rural America, the Democrats released redistricting maps yesterday that sent the message to rural Colorado that they can cling to their guns and religion, but not their congressional districts.

All six maps came out of left field attempting to draw lines that make you think Democrats completely ignored every citizen's testimony from the public hearings of the redistricting committee.  In leaking their maps to Coloradopols, the Dems tried to pre-emptively argue that redistricting means starting from scratch and drawing completely different boundaries every 10 years. 

The problem with their pre-emptive spin about a Monty Python version of redistricting (And Now for Something Completely Different), is that the big re-drawings only occurred when an additional Congressional district had to be added. When you have to make a district appear out of thin air, it will of course necessitate some serious changes. 

This go-round Colorado isn't gaining a new Congressional district, thus depriving Democrats of the excuse to completely re-imagine the district lines (read: force every district to have metro-area Democrat towns).

In every single Democrat map the Western Slope is broken up in favor of forcing polar opposites Grand Junction and Boulder into the same district.  That alone is enough to make you think the Dems are smoking something medicinal.

Their maps also break up the Eastern Plains and El Paso County. To add insult to injury, they also attempt to draw Congressman Coffman out of his own district. 

If Democrats aim was to squash the kumbaya part of the kumbaya committee, then these first maps mean they succeeded. Despite protestations from committee members that they were going to put Coloradans first and their political ambitions second, Democrats decided to dispatch with any sense of compromise and propose laughably un-passable maps. 

As we mentioned previously, Senate President Brandon Shaffer gets his house in CD4 so he can announce his candidacy as soon as the final map is approved, and John Morse Per Diem Investigator Extraordinaire Morgan Carroll gets a completely re-imagined CD6 to run in when she is done pretending to support good government in the Colorado Capitol. 

That Democrats played along pretending to not be trying to game the system for their own political ambitions is not surprising, but their sudden and abrupt about face is rather striking. If you're going to drop your pretenses of non-partisanship and play the role of political hack, it is generally advisable to transition a little slower.

The maps released today by Democrats have left a marker in the sand that they plan on fighting this to the end, promises to seek bi-partisan compromise be damned. 

This process just got completely turned on its head and Democrats have no one to blame but themselves. 

You can find pictures of the six Democrat maps here

Pictures of the Republican maps, not produced under the effects of medicinal substances, are here.