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- NATION, Page 20Grapevine
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- BLACK PAWNS? In the Republican Party's quest to gain control
- of the House of Representatives, G.O.P. Chairman Lee Atwater
- plans to pit black aspirations for more political power against
- the Democratic Party's desire to protect its incumbents. In
- redistricting battles after the 1990 census, Republicans will
- try to increase the number of congressional districts in which
- blacks are a majority (now 22) by carving out new seats from
- predominantly black precincts in areas currently represented
- by white Democrats. G.O.P. strategists believe they could pick
- up as many as three dozen Democratic districts. The ploy, if
- implemented, could confront Democrats with a no-win choice:
- either go along and deprive white incumbents of reliable black
- support, or fight it and risk the ire of black voters who want
- to send one of their own to Congress. Says Republican House
- whip Newt Gingrich: "It really tears up the Democratic Party."
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