From WeeklyStandard.com:

For Republicans, campaign finance reform was a nightmare from which they are only now awakening. After the campaign law, better known as McCain-Feingold, was enacted in 2002, Republicans largely ignored the new possibilities it created for affecting the outcome of elections. When the Supreme Court in 2003 upheld most of the provisions of the law, their apathy continued.

Democrats weren’t so passive. They immediately reacted to the new campaign spending rules by setting up a cluster of organizations outside the party that played an enormous role in the 2004, 2006, and 2008 campaigns. Republicans suffered through the three election cycles without countering the onslaught by the Democratic outfits. The 2006 and 2008 elections produced Democratic landslides.

But 2010 should be different. Spurred by Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, Republicans have matched the Democratic infrastructure with organizations of their own. These groups expect to raise and spend tens of millions in this year’s midterm elections and probably even more in 2012, when President Obama is likely to be running for a second term.

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Welcome to this week’s edition of “Redistricting Rundown,” a synopsis of redistricting news brought to you by the RSLC’s Redistricting Majority Project (REDMAP).  For those that are new, this weekly update gives you the latest on what those in the beltway, and across the country, are saying about the impending reapportionment and redistricting process.

While Census workers will soon be going door-to-door to account for the country’s immigration, migration and reproductive trends, the RSLC is getting ready for the end result – reapportionment and the legislative races that can determine the political landscape for the next 10 years.

In this week’s “Redistricting Rundown” we get more insights on exactly which states’ legislatures will play a crucial role in the redrawing of congressional lines, who the Democrats are trying to make into “boogeymen,” and what actions are being taken by individual states.