In early September, GOP Gov. Nathan Deal took pleasure in signing a map that creates a new heavily conservative district in his home base of North Georgia. GOP state Rep. Doug Collins and conservative talk radio host Martha Zoller will be competing for this new 9th CD (GOP Rep. Tom Graves will run for the renumbered northwest Georgia 14th CD). The new map also seriously shores up GOP freshman Rep. Austin Scott in the South Georgia 8th CD. But next November, all eyes will be on the Augusta-based 12th CD, where Republicans went out of their way to endanger Democratic Rep. John Barrow.
Under the new lines, Barrow's district falls from 44 percent African-American and 55 percent Obama to about 33 percent African-American and 44 percent Obama, deeming him a distinct underdog for reelection. Even though Barrow lives in Savannah, he has announced he will stick it out and run for a district 47 percent new to him. Some Democrats hoped that the Justice Department would deny the map preclearance under the Voting Rights Act, but Republicans conveniently converted 2nd
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