The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

Can’t They Gamble/Buy Drugs With Their Own Money?
“Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton Police Among Agencies to Receive Gambling/Drug Money”–headline, Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa), Nov. 3

Bottom Stories of the Day

  • “Police: Package Checked at NYC Airport Is Harmless”–headline, Associated Press, Nov. 3
  • “Pelosi Doesn’t Congratulate GOP”–headline, FoxNews.com, Nov. 3
  • “Deep Rifts Divide Obama and Republicans”–headline, New York Times, Nov. 4
  • “Potash Is an Emotional Issue in Saskatchewan”–headline, Montreal Gazette, Nov. 3

Good Timing–II
Yesterday we noted that Republicans had made big gains in state legislative races, just in time for congressional redistricting. National Journal has some detailed numbers:

Republicans picked up 680 seats in state legislatures, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures–the most in the modern era. To put that number in perspective: In the 1994 GOP wave, Republicans picked up 472 seats. The previous record was in the post-Watergate election of 1974, when Democrats picked up 628 seats.

The GOP gained majorities in at least 14 state house chambers. They now have unified control–meaning both chambers–of 26 state legislatures. . . .

Republicans now hold the redistricting “trifecta”–both chambers of the state legislature and the governorship — in 15 states. They also control the Nebraska governorship and the unicameral legislature, taking the number up to 16. And in North Carolina–probably the state most gerrymandered to benefit Democrats–Republicans hold both chambers of the state legislature and the Democratic governor does not have veto power over redistricting proposals.

One state where Democrats will control the Legislature and the governorship is California, which currently has 53 House seats. But even as they re-elected Jerry Brown, California voters passed Proposition 20, which puts an independent commission in charge of congressional redistricting.

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