>> jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> a cnn special report, "gerry-rigged, why your vote for congress may not matter" begins right now. this is independence hall, the birthplace of our american form of government. and for us, the starting point for our journey in to why so often that government is failing us now. going to do a report on gerry-rig. what do you think about it? >> i think gerrymandering is a great guy. >> they're lined up to see the liberty bell. >> what do you think about gerrymandering? >> i don't know him. >> how about you? >> i never heard of him. >> it's actually the way

politicians draw up congressional districts. >> oh! >> in to weird-looking shapes so they can protect their own seats. >> okay. >> we brought along these inkblot cards as examples. what does this look like to you? >> like california coastline. >> tell me what's the first thing that comes to mind. >> skyline. >> how about this one? >> haven't a clue. >> a dragon. >> a dragon? very good. do you know these are u.s. congressional voting districts? >> oh. >> oh. >> that's what we were going to say next. we were going to say that next. >> right after dragon. we call this gerry-rigged. it's the way politicians in both parties draw lines to protect their own seats. by packing them with the voters they want. not what you might want. some examples in the hour ahead. a narrow grassy strip drawn by democrats as the connecting point for one gerrymandered

district in illinois. in north carolina, republicans use the width of this river to help design a district crammed mainly with black voters. in california, it was a citizen's commission which used this narrow sandy beach to tie together parts of another district. republicans and democrats alike have been drawing weird districts like this going back some 200 years. the results, when both parties can create safe seats for politicians, voters have less influence over what happens in washington. when you ask, why congress is so badly gridlocked, so unwilling to compromise, gerrymandering is one of the answers. in chicago, squeezed between two freeways this narrow strip is needed to connect two halves of a gerrymandered district to keep it contiguous as is required. this is the way congress gets

around the contiguous rule because there's obviously nobody living here. i mean, unless they're homeless people, i guess. anybody here? any congressional voters out there? this is illinois' 4th district. stand it on end and what does it look like? >> ear muffs. >> luis gutierrez is the congressman here for almost 20 years. >> one part and another part and stay protected. you stay together. >> the district was drawn to give hispanics a seat in congress. >> shouldn't the congress of the united states be a reflection of the city of chicago? >> gutierrez ticks off what he says is an irish district, a polish district, a jewish district. three black districts. this is the map for those chicago districts, all held by democrats with irregular lines.

odd connecting points. back in the ear muff strip. here comes a tractor. leaving the 7th. he is in the 4th congressional district right now. going through the 4th congressional district and he's entered the 5th congressional district. >> the problem is that the history of city of chicago hasn't been circles or squares. been black, latino, white. >> the congressman is actually right. having grown up in chicago, that's the way it was. it's a racially divided city, divided almost by streets. you can cross through a viaduct and the color of people just changes like that. it's always been that way. black neighborhood. hispanic neighborhood. in his hispanic district, gutierrez is usually re-elected

with 75% of the vote or more. for other democrats around him, it can be as high as 85%. mary shafsma of the league of women voters. >> this is my district. they say that. >> consider this. in the last decade, 78% of all the seats in the house did not change party hands, not even once. that's nearly four out of five congressmen in safe seats year after year after year. david wasserman is the cook political report's district expert. >> we currently rate only 20 races as toss-ups. >> only 20 swing races next year out of 435 seats in the house. >> americans really are between the ideological 40 yard lines but the districts aren't and part of the reason congress is polarized. >> a result of district lines drawn to protect incumbents in both parties. >> in general elections it's almost rigged. >> every ten years after each census, congress is redistricted as our population grows and shifts.

that is going on all over the country. even in states with the same number of seats as before. these are the states which will gain seats. these states will lose. republicans control the process in red states. democrats in blue. the rest are nonpartisan or divided control. in illinois, democrats pushed through their new map over a holiday weekend. former house speaker dennis hastert, a republican. >> basically, there's five new republican freshmen. a lot of those people will be wiped out in this map. >> this fading billboard is about all that remains of freshman adam kimzinger's district. it's now majority black south side chicago district. that includes kimzinger's home in small town manteno, illinois.

to run for re-election next year, kimzinger will have to move somewhere else. hastert is helping lead a gop lawsuit in federal court to try to overturn the democratic map. one fourth of the people in chicago's cook county are latino now and hastert's lawsuit says they deserve two seats. not just the one gutierrez has for himself. >> that hasn't been done to preserve the territories of some democrat congressmen that are already there. >> but the nation's highest court has already said no more political complaints. >> this case is the biggest supreme court case this no one has ever heard of. >> cnn legal expert jeffrey toobin. >> basically what the supreme court said was, if you democrats and you republicans want to go

out there and fight about redistricting, we are not going to get involved. that is not the place of the courts. we will get involved if race is being abused in that process. but if it's just politics, we're staying out of it. redistricting is a partisan enterprise. always has been. and we're just not going to get involved. >> this is marblehead, massachusetts, where gerrymandering was born. the name sake of this man but mispronounced. it should be -- >> gerry with a hard "g." >> as governor, gerry drew weird districts like this for the state legislature. town historian wayne butler. >> has a head like a dragon and two claws. marblehead is the bottom claw. >> here in chicago, you'd think they'd know all about gerrymandering. not necessarily so. outside wrigley field, during a cubs game. >> whoo! >> we ran in to this peanut

vender. ever heard of gerrymandering? >> yeah. what are you running for? >> what's he running for? >> nothing right now. >> that's you? mr. gerrymandering? >> no. have fun. take it easy. >> all right. >> coming up, jamming black voters together to whitewash other districts. >> just a concerted effort to ghetto-ize the black vote. >> a deepening racial divide in the politics of the south. next. .. .. tactical telecommunications... squad leader. i think the hardest transition as you get further into the military is... you know it's going to end one day. chase hired me to be a personal banker. i'm a business analyst... manager. i'm very proud to work for chase. when you hire a veteran, you get... great leadership... decisiveness... focus. chase knows, when you hire a veteran, you're hiring america's best. chase is proud to help 100,000 veterans find jobs at home.

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in small town mt. airy, north carolina, businessman bruce springthorpe redistricted the people of his state. >> it doesn't know what party they're part of, the age, whether they're black or white or hispanic or native american. it just draws the lines. >> no squiggly lines here. >> the trick is to get as compact as possible. in other words, you want ideally a square. >> what happens if two incumbents wind up in the same district? >> let them fight it out. >> beg your pardon? >> let them fight it out.

>> springthorpe submitted the congressional map at this public hearing. and was ignored. this year, republicans won control of the north carolina legislature for the first time since right after the civil war. they hired a gop expert from washington to draw their map. >> all in favor say aye. >> and rammed it through on a party line vote. remember that grassy area between the two expressways up in chicago? well, this is another one of those weird redistricting designs that screams gerrymandering. behind me is the cape fear river here in north carolina. and just upstream is a connecting point no wider than this river. the water here is the only link to the second half of the district, further downstream. politicians used it to cram in as many blacks as possible in to just a few congressional districts.

keeping the rest of the districts mostly white and predictably republican. democrat david price is the incumbent here. >> they're even splitting precincts to include the black population in one district and purge them from another. i think that's atrocious. >> ask him what his new 4th district looks like -- >> resemble vietnam some say. others say italy. >> the boot? >> the boot. >> this is the actual shape of the new district. the southern half was extended down to fayetteville to bring in another 100,000 voters, most of them black, most of them democrat. by design, republicans crammed almost half of all the african-american voters in north carolina in to just 3 of the state's 13 congressional

districts. resegregation is the word the naacp and others are using. state senator dan blue. >> it's just a concerted effort to ghetto-ize the black vote in north carolina. >> is this just power politics or is this racism? >> it's racism and it weakens the country. >> there is a racial divide today in the politics of the south. 95% of all registered republicans in north carolina are white. 96% of all registered blacks are democrats. in the five deep south cotton belt states, from south carolina over to louisiana, there are only nine democratic congressmen left. only one of them is white. he's from savannah, georgia, and republican redistricting in that state has just taken his home city away from him. >> it's possible there won't be a single white democrat

remaining from the deep south by 2013. >> your hardest -- >> the brutal police beatings of these civil rights marchers in selma, alabama, led to the passage of the 1965 voting rights act. it guarantees blacks an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. but when blacks are jammed in to districts of their own, republicans benefit. >> redistricting has helped whitewash a lot of the districts surrounding african-american majority seats. >> democrats in north carolina now have seven seats in congress, republicans six. next year, the gop could win as many as ten seats. state senator bob ruchio led this redistricting victory. aren't you guys stacking the deck? >> not really. >> he says democrats could be competitive. >> they have a chance of winning every one of those ten elections. >> from the outside, this looks like pure political grab.

and the republicans of this state using the voting rights act to justify the redrawing of the map. >> i don't agree with your premise, on your question. because we are not using the votes right act to do anything. we're following the law. >> black incumbents hold two of the districts packed with blacks. the third such democrat seat is that of david price. thought to be safe until now. ♪ on halloween weekend, a neighborhood party in this confederate cemetery in raleigh. a mermaid out of water. a tortoise and a hear. and democrat congressman brad miller munching and mingling with constituents. ten years ago when miller helped draw the lines, the state gained a seat. miller ran for it and won. this year, with the gop in

control, roughly 100,000 voters, many of them black, were moved outside of raleigh and made a part of price's district. along with miller's own home. >> we'll have us a primary? >> we might. we might. >> if you look at it cynically, the strategy is put you against each other and the one kills the other off. >> sure. >> a race certain to be closer than the contest between the tortoise and the hare leading republicans to relish a bit of philosophy. >> let them fight it out. ♪ just ahead, reform takes root in california. >> you can't draw lines to favor parties, incumbents or any candidate. >> but is it working? >> i thought we were finally going to put an end to the gerrymandered districts of the past. ♪ good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money.

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♪ as in so many other states, even here in sunny, free-spirit california, voters had become disenchanted. year after year, election after election, locked in congressional district lines meant the same old politicians were being elected the same old way. >> i hate to say that your vote doesn't count. >> kathy fung of california's common cause.

>> i think for the large part congressional elections in california were already rigged to have a certain outcome. >> so your vote really didn't count. >> in terms of determining the final outcome, it didn't count. >> in fact, the 2001 map kept so many incumbents safe only one of california's 53 congressional seats changed party hands in the past decade. >> it just really opened my eyes to how wrong that old process was. >> so california set out to change things and voters did. passing two amendments which essentially took the power to draw lines out of the hands of the politicians and put it in to the hands of the public. an independent citizens commission.

dr. mike ward, a political novice, was among the 14 members. >> i saw it as an opportunity to change the landscape of california politics. >> fung helped lead the voter drive for reform. >> we specifically wrote in rules that is you can't draw lines that will favor parties, incumbents or any candidate. >> it provides favoritism. >> the commission held dozens of hearings around the state. >> the valley needs to be kept together. >> 60-40 makes common. >> these maps should be rejected. >> keep the redlands together. >> they really sat and listened to thousands of people coming and talking about where their communities were. >> i thought we were finally going to put an end to the gerrymandered districts of the past. >> the rooms were packed. you couldn't get in. >> thank you for your time and consideration. >> did it work? mike ward says a quick walk on this beach at the very end of the los angeles airport runway will show you it did not.

>> this is a great example of exactly why the commission was created to prevent. in 2001, california had what was a 200-mile long district known as the ribbon of shame. >> look at. i mean, where are we? we're -- this is a -- this is somebody's congressional district. it is just a strip of sand. the narrow strip is needed to connect upper and lower halves of this district. >> this strip of sand, we call it a high tide district. it's only there when the tide is low. >> party politics were would give way to social politics. in san francisco and elsewhere, gay and lesbian communities were suddenly being protected and kept intact by the citizens commission. >> in here's where a lot of the gay commission is. >> which democratic district consultant paul mitchell thinks is good. >> it would draw lines to try and protect the voting power of the gay and lesbian community.

this is the first time anybody's done this nationally and it was a huge impact. >> race and ethnicity mattered even more. when the commission posted the final congressional maps like the one for this district, each map specified the percentage of latinos and blacks and asian americans living there. latinos whose population in california is exploding gained and could win nine of california's seats next year. and even though the black population in los angeles county is shrinking, the three traditionally black districts did remain although reshaped. the commission said it wanted to protect minority interests in part to comply with the voting rights act. at the end of the day, wasn't the commission just the commission individual members afraid of being accused of being racist? >> absolutely. and you know, that's funny because that's a big part of this process. they were worried about being accused of being racist. they chose political expediency

over the true reading of the voting rights act. >> the commission denies race or fear of being a racist was a part of any decision. when the final map emerged, mike ward was one of two members of the commission to vote against it. >> there's no question that partisanship and special interests had a special seat at the table and that was reflected in the maps. >> even so, redistricting expert david wasserman says as many as 15 california incumbents could be in real trouble this coming election. >> 15 out of 53 doesn't sound like a lot but it's an avalanche. >> perhaps a dozen districts could remain competitive through this next decade, a success by california by that measure. >> for the first time we'll have congressional races where when you look at the ballot, you will have some interesting choices and your vote might actually make a lot of difference. >> if there is one perfect example of how power has been taken out of the hands of politicians it is in the

newly-formed district in l.a.'s san fernando valley. howard berman has been in congress 29 years. brad sherman, 15. they have held a simmering disdain for each other separated by the carefully-drawn lines that one once accused the other of drawing to stab him in the back. now these two nearly identical democrats are squaring off in a fight to the finish. >> for most normal people you can't tell the difference between the voting record and the style of howard berman versus brad sherman. >> sherman apparently stabbed berman in the back. >> one had the knife and had it taken away. next, these two titans on a collision course. >> this is going to be the most expensive congressional race this country's ever seen. [ child 2 ] i call first player.

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a body found buried in a shallow grave in ohio may be linked to the so-called craigslist killer there. the fbi is working under the assumption the body is of a man who has been missing for more than a week. answered a fake craigslist job

ad. within man who responded to the same ad was found dead, another has been shot. >> a home coming for one of the three american college students accused of throwing molotov cocktails during the recent unrest in egypt. gregory porter thanked his lawyers and the embassy in cairo for achieving his freedom. egyptian police accused porter and who others of joining in the demonstrations. join us at 10:00 eastern time for more on this story. at this beverley hills hotel, a fund-raiser asking $5,000 a person for this congressman. cnn was barred from attending. and his press secretary had us

banned from this outside area. >> my guess is hotel security once they find out may ask you to leave. >> but a local reporter was allowed inside. he took these photos. the dinner raised $1.6 million. >> i'm not going to lose because i am under resourced. i'm going to raise the money that i need to win. >> he is howard berman, almost 30 years in washington and an icon known as hollywood's congressman. >> today we open part two of the hearing. >> now redistricted in to a race against fellow incumbent and fellow democrat brad sherman. >> the main reason to vote for me is because i'm the best looking candidate. >> in a winner take all, loser

go home, battle to the end. reporter jonah lowenfeld covers both. do they shake hands? >> i know that they have co-sponsored a couple of bills together just in recent -- in the recent past. >> but those are just two names on a piece of paper. when you've ever met them in the same room together? >> big room. >> it is not a big room any longer. >> this is one of the clashes of the titans that political pundits like us love to see and incumbents hate. >> until now, berman and sherman had separate districts in l.a.'s san fernando valley even though their houses are only three miles apart. when the new maps came out, berman found his home placed in what is mostly sherman's district. >> howard and i have talked about this and he's suggesting i move to the ventura county seat. he lives an equal distance from that seat as i do. >> congressman sherman tells me that you asked him to run in ventura county. >> no. it's out of context. we had -- he called me when the maps came out. and we had one conversation.

the problem is, our suggestion of what the other guy should do is not something the other guy is buying in to. so, this race may be inevitable. >> the chilly relationship goes back at least ten years, to the last redistricting in california when brad sherman says howard berman and his brother michael drew their own congressional district lines stabbing him in the back. >> i don't know if i used those exact words. >> i think those were your words. >> there's a reporter who thinks they heard it that way. let's put it like this. i don't think that michael berman took my interests in to account. >> did the berman brothers seek to get rid of you?

>> they strongly fought for a plan in which i would have had a very big disadvantage. i'm sure that michael berman loves his brother more than he loves me. >> sherman told me that ten years ago you and your brother drew up the districts and tried to carve him out of his seat. true? >> absolutely not. his recollections are designed to put other people off guard but have no relationship to reality. >> in reality, they both got what they wanted. and stayed safe for ten years. but not any longer. this year, the new california commission redrew the lines to convert much of berman's current district in to a majority latino district. l.a. city councilman tony cardes is running for that seat. >> we have never had somebody who's a latino american actually get elected to congress from that community. but that community is over 70% latino by population. >> so the result -- berman versus sherman. not just the names are similar. you're a democrat. he's a democrat. >> right. >> you are jewish. he's jewish. you vote the same.

what's the difference? >> you want a congressman where you know if you have a problem with the federal government you can tap him on the shoulder and tell him good-bye. that accessibility is probably the single most important thing. >> in a race between two almost identical politicians, the bumper stickers aren't going to be so clear. he's been in congress pretty long. you have been in congress a real long time and both somewhat effective. where are you going to be able to get the message across that i'm even better than him? >> it's your last point. both somewhat effective. if you want to get down to what we have accomplished in congress, there's really no comparison. >> and no end to this fight. the reform movement in california did not stop with redistricting. voters made another change. next year there will be one super primary for everybody. republicans, democrats and independents. and the top two vote getters will square off again in the

main election in november. >> it may create situations where you have a republican and a republican on the november ballot or a democrat and a democrat. >> everyone is expecting the bitter primary race between berman and sherman will be a rematch come november. >> latino districts were drawn. >> republican strategist max rexroad can't wait. >> the best part for me is watching a blood bath in june and then go at it again in november. ♪ when we continue, just how far will incumbents go to try to stay in congress? >> hello, seattle! ♪

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[ male announcer ] when life changes, so can your insurances needs. use travelers free guide to better coverage to stay prepared. is your auto and home insurance keeping up with you? contact your local travelers agent, or call 800-my-coverage. paul matheson is jogging a thousand miles across pennsylvania and back. have you had any scary moments out here? >> an hour ago on the other side of the guardrail i looked over and there were three black bears. >> really? >> matheson is trying to rally support for a change in the redistricting system. >> political boundaries are drawn or redrawn by the elected officials themselves and then simply is a conflict of interest.

>> what's missing here is any evidence of public concern. >> i mean, shouldn't we have thousands of people behind us right now if that's the case? >> yeah. yeah. i mean, yeah. >> instead, it's a long and lonely road. >> but you're right. it's not a burn 'em at the stake sort of urgency. >> in florida, deidra mcnabb says reform took three quarters of a century. >> we have had this cancer in our state of gerrymandering for decades and the league of women voters worked on this issue for 72 years. >> in 2010, florida just like california, did change its state's constitution. 3 million people voted for an amendment demanding that no district be drawn to protect a sitting politician or get rid of one. politicians refused to retreat. these two congress members on the left not only campaigned against the change but then went to court to try to overturn what

the voters did. remember the dragon district? the lady who represents it is democrat corrine brown joined in the lawsuit by republican mario diaz-balart, a hispanic and african-american with what are considered safe seats. when their lawsuit was thrown out of court by a federal judge this fall, they quickly filed an appeal. >> we think it might reach to the supreme court of the united states. >> aren't you both just really protecting your seats? >> no. absolutely not. >> i see two congressional politicians in super secure seats -- >> right. >> oh, no. >> super secure seats. >> no, no. that is not true. >> trying to save your seats. >> you need to do your research, sir. >> we did. brown had no opponent on the november ballot in 2004, 2006 or 2008. >> it is not about me. it is about making sure that we

continue to have minority representation in florida. >> both of them portray this as a racial and ethnic issue. >> among the effects would be irreparable harm to the federal electoral system including the ability of minorities to elect candidates of their choice. >> we read what he said to dale landry of the florida naacp. >> we disagree with that. >> he's wrong? >> he's wrong. >> in fact, the new amendment requires that minority rights be protected. >> it helps ensure that minority voters get to elect or have the opportunity to elect folk that they want to be placed in office. >> but the florida legislature has joined the resistance, led by speaker dean cannon, lawyers for the lower house are taking part in the appeal. you are willing to spend taxpayer dollars essentially fighting a taxpayer supported amendment. >> no. we are spending taxpayer dollars to get clarity on a rule of federal and state constitutional law.

>> cannon's argument the u.s. constitution if i was the state legislature alone the responsibility for redistricting, an argument already rejected by the federal judge. spending public money this way has raised public eyebrows. >> people have been outraged about it, absolutely outraged, as well they should be. >> how will incumbents go to try to keep a seat in congress? well, it's 2,019 miles from cleveland to seattle. >> hello, seattle! >> dennis kucinich flew there fearing he might be drawn out of his seat in ohio. you made several trips, i think five trips to seattle and seem to flirt about the idea of running for congress in washington state. >> i receive many invitations to

speak there and i've been going out there for years and many places in the country. >> the eight-term congressman speaking at the pro-marijuana hemp fest last spring. >> seattle, you shook the world once. can you shake it again? i ask you. >> this was not a campaign appearance. he says. when you were told your district in ohio would be wiped out you weren't even considering a race in washington state, considering a district in washington state? >> i have people asking me if i consider running but i made no commitment anywhere. >> in the end, the new ohio map put kucinich in the same district with another democrat incumbent. he decided to stay home and run against her. >> thank you! still to come -- >> whoo! whoo! >> the state fair in iowa. and the rare duel between democrat and republican incumbents. >> you put a gun to my head i couldn't tell you who's going to

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>> hog calling. horseshoes. hamburger on the hoof. this is the iowa state fair. a million visitors every year to the midway and the farm exhibits. on sale at auction, the champion steers, hogs, other livestock. in all, these teenagers will walk away with more than a quarter million dollars. but this is a pittance of what one of the closest congressional races in the country will cost here next year. >> i need some more ice tea? >> meet republican incumbent tom latham working a farm lunch at the state fair. >> i'm congressman tom latham. good to see you folks. good to see you.

>> elsewhere at a farmer's market, democrat incumbent dennis boswell. >> congressman. >> how are you doing? >> great. you are on my list to re-elect, man. >> i'm glad to be. >> facing each other in a race too close to call. the result of a nonpartisan redistricting system in iowa free of politics. if voting patterns are the same, it's 1% either way. >> right. >> it's a toss-up district. >> oh, sure. >> des moines has half the voters here. it's boswell's base and they lean democratic. but the rest of this district in southwest iowa is mostly rural and republican. small town, america. the birthplace of both john wayne and johnny carson. right now, it is the only race like this in the nation. republican and democrat incumbents in a duel to the end. >> you put a gun to my head i couldn't tell you who wins. >> normal lek year you get so

few party seats switching hands. this is going to be one of those races. this is going to be the race, money pouring in from both sides. will this be the most expensive race you have been involved in? >> it probably will. >> how much will the winner or the close loser have to raise in this case? >> i don't know. >> we have heard $3.5 million aside. >> it's possible. >> together, $7 million. >> at some point voters would say give me the money because $7 million can buy a lot in des moines, iowa. >> how are you doing? >> good. >> for boswell, it will mean raising twice what he spent a year ago. this next race, you spent $1.5 million in the last race. in next race -- >> going to cost more. >> tighter. >> yeah. >> costing you even more and because seats in congress rarely turn red to "d" or "d" to red, this is a race where both sides are jumping all over this.

>> probably so. >> are you not envious of the guys sitting in the gerrymandering districts so safe? >> i couldn't tell i wouldn't appreciate it not being so tough. >> these are the men that made it so tough. you have a secret location? >> i don't know if it's secret. >> at least behind locked doors. not even the janitor's allowed in. >> the legislators, they all know that we're off limits. >> gary rudicel draws iowa's congressional maps, a nonpartisan staffer for the legislature. politicians do not see the maps until the very end and then it's an up or down vote. no changes allowed. that's the law here. iowa lost one seat in this last census. this is the old map with five seats for the past decade. now the new map with four. the lines look regular, rare for any state. but the congressmen were left scrambling in a game of musical chairs.

>> in iowa, it's understood incumbent protection is not the name of the game. >> four congressmen wound up stuck together in new districts. which parties are they in? >> that i do not know. >> gary, the fact you didn't know that is interesting because you really don't care. >> no. that's correct. ♪ >> are those all done? >> yep. >> one of those congressmen is tom latham. his district with that of another republican incumbent, so latham moved one county south to take on boswell instead. >> do you like the system that they have in iowa? >> i do. because -- and i honestly believe if we had more like it around the country, that i think we would get away from some of this really partisan stuff and i think if you sit in a very safe district, a lot of times it's people ignoring the public will. they don't have to listen because they can do whatever they want to and vote however they want to. and not be held accountable for it. >> voters in iowa do want to be heard.

>> we need somebody that will watch our money like it's their own. >> the rich are not paying their fair share. >> leonard boswell is holding a weekend meeting in an ice cream parlor. >> the squeeze on the middle class, the working class is bigger and bigger. >> this looks like democracy as it was meant to be, people who know their congressmen can speak their mind and will have a real choice come next year. so can this system solve the nation's problems with gerrymandering? before you think iowa has all the answers for the rest of us, remember this state is mostly flat. largely square. and let's be honest. iowa is overwhelmingly white. in a state with only 3% african-american population, there are no minority districts to be drawn or manipulated.

suey! >> no oddities of geographies to divide people. neither a red or blue state. just plain vanilla. here the governor stands in line for lunch at the state fair like anyone else. this is the fifth term for terry bransted. he's been around since they began nonpartisan redistricting three decades ago. let's face it, most people in congress don't have to be worried about getting re-elected. >> i don't think that's a healthy situation. i think if you have a competitive situation, you're likely to have a more aware and a lot of people are concerned that today the congress lost touch with reality, our nation