I think it will be a miracle if congressional redistricting is completed Monday. Senators are working this weekend on possible compromises. There seems to be no way to get 24 votes for consideration Monday of the House-passed plan, however. That provides leverage for a compromise Senate plan, which isn’t the same thing as a plan acceptable to the House.

The election of Larry Teague as 2013 Senate president pro tem is believed to be a new complication. He’s a Democrat, but was elected with strong Republican support. Was part of the deal that he drop support of the Democratic Party-backed House map, which puts Fayetteville in the 4th District?

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Again, Fayetteville is just handy cover for Republicans playing to their base and attempting to make some political hay. The roadblocks in the Senate are Democratic members with their own local concerns — split counties, shifts of territory in southern Arkansas and other factors.

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