Russ Carnahan confronts Emanuel Cleaver in House

For the second time in three weeks on Wednesday, Rep. Russ Carnahan engaged a fellow Missouri Democrat in a heated confrontation over redistricting on the House floor.

This time, it was Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, who had encouraged a state lawmaker to cast what became the deciding vote to put in place a state redistricting plan that pairs Carnahan, who is white, with Rep. Lacy Clay, who is black, in a St. Louis-area district that is heavily African-American.


“He’s angry,” Cleaver, a longtime Carnahan family friend, said after the verbal altercation. “I understand the frustration that my colleague is experiencing.”

Carnahan declined to comment on the conversation — but he didn’t contest that it occurred or that it was animated.

Last time, it was Rep. Lacy Clay, to whom Carnahan said “F—- you. Thanks for your help,” after Clay declined to put his full weight against the plan.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54335.html#ixzz1LUfmypai

then that would ensure that Governor Nixon's veto would remain.

A likely result would have been the redrawing of the redistricting plan by a court and that could have improved the Democrats's chances of eliminating a repuke district.

What a wasted opportunity for the Dems.