Isn't that a beauty? Click here for an article by Stephen Wolf at Daily Kos entitled "Join our tour of the worst Republican gerrymanders, with Florida's 5th District!"
The word "gerrymander" means "manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class." According to its Wikipedia entry:
The word gerrymander (originally written Gerry-mander) was used for the first time in the Boston Gazette on 26 March 1812. The word was created in reaction to a redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under Governor Elbridge Gerry ... In 1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander.According to Stephen Wolf's article:
"Gerrymander" is a portmanteau of the governor's last name and the word "salamander."
Florida’s 5th Congressional District snaked down the peninsula from Jacksonville to Gainesville to Orlando, scooping up as many black voters as it could to contain them in one heavily Democratic district so that every surrounding district would lean Republican. The end result was a seat that voted 71-28 for Obama while Romney won all six of its neighbors.
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