Ilario Pantano, Mike McIntyre, and the Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly made the Washington Post yesterday – but about events and elections won’t be happening for many months.

Pantano, a Republican who challenged longtime Democratic Rep. McIntyre in North Carolina’s Democratic-leaning 7th Congressional District, has already announced his intention to run for the seat against in 2012. Despite solid fundraising and a strong Republican tide in 2010, Pantano came up eight points short in his first attempt.

Writing for the Post political blog “The Fix,” Rachel Weiner reported on Pantano’s campaign announcement and the possibility that the first Republican legislative majority in modern North Carolina history might redraw the congressional map in a way that would boost Pantano’s chances in 2012.

I think Weiner did a good job outlining two possible scenarios for reworking four congressional districts in the eastern part of the state: the 7th District in the southeast corner, the 3rd District up the coast from there, the 2nd District that takes in portions of the coastal plain and the eastern part of the Triangle region, and the 8th District that stretches across the southern part of the state from Fayetteville to Charlotte.

One possibility, Weiner writes, would be to move Republican-leaning precincts into the 2nd District, now represented by Republican Renee Ellmers, and the 8th District, now represented by Democrat Larry Kissell. Lawmakers would offset that by moving Democratic-leaning precincts in the Fayetteville area into the 7th.

That would strengthen McIntyre at the expense of Pantano.

Another possibility, described as more “aggressive,” would be to pull some GOP-leaning areas out of the 3rd District, represented by Rep. Walter Jones, and into the 7th. Some Democratic voters around Fayetteville might then end up in the 2nd or 8th.

Essentially, this plan would make Jones a bit less secure, give Ellmers a somewhat-tougher fight and Kissell a somewhat-easier one, and give Pantano a far better shot at McIntyre. It represents a riskier strategy with the possibility of greater returns for Republicans, though perhaps the risk to Ellmers could be ameliorated by reshaping Triangle-area districts to make the 4th and 13th districts even more congenial to Democrats David Price and Brad Miller by pulling some of their Republican voters into the 2nd.

Head spinning yet?

If you’ve ever paid close attention to the redistricting process, you won’t find any of these maneuvers surprising. Partisan considerations have always predominated, particularly when it comes to the congressional map. While the Stephenson v. Bartlett litigation resulted in some useful limitations on gerrymandering of state legislative districts, no such limitations really constrain the process of drawing congressional maps. As long as the districts are roughly equal in population, in compliance with the Voting Rights Act, and not so egregious as to trigger judicial review – good luck figuring that out ahead of time – lawmakers can draw the maps however they wish.

In the interest of representative government, we need a better system. Just as with the legislative districts, our congressional districts ought to be subjected to neutral rules that constrain gerrymandering, such as respecting jurisdictional lines and ensuring geographical compactness.

In the case of the eastern NC districts, for example, I’m sure that many voters in Cumberland County would prefer not to have their community divided into three different congressional districts stretching from Wilmington to Raleigh to Charlotte. Many Wake County residents probably feel the same way about their tripartite division.

I think their preferences ought to count for something. But what do I know?

Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.