In 2012, Democrats received more than a million more votes in House races than Republicans and lost seats. Gerrymandering is a real thing. Look at the shapes of some of the districts (on both sides of the isle) in these Gerrymandered states. We should all be offended that the political process has been corrupted in this way. That's why state elections are so important to the overall political process. It is astonishing how little interest they attract from citizens and how big an impact they have on national elections.
Special interest financing of politics is certainly not a GOP only issue, but they certainly are way out in front of the process. The challenges to election laws that made way for this type of unlimited financing of candidates came from the right, not the left. The court was spilit on the decision to change the law on partisan political lines. A few months ago the casino owner from NV held a meeting in which Republicans from all over the country traveled to kiss his ring and gain his favor (and financial backing). The Koch Brothers have spent milliions of dollars backing candidates in nearly every state -- state elections as well as federal. This stuff happens on both sides, for sure. But, you are fooling yourself if you don't thing the practice is way further down the road on the right than on the left. I find it repulsive on either side.
Finally, perhaps you should remind me of "all the voter fraud" from the last election. Don't just make an accusation without proof that this is a prominant problem that requires all of these extraordinary (and expensive) measures to combat. In the big picutre, voter fraud is less than a blip on the radar of national elections. Show me one instance of in-person voter fraud that will be prevented when those casting votes have to show an ID. The fact that these laws have been pushed so hard from the right make it seem like millions of people across the country are showing up at polling stations and saying they are someone else, then casting votes fraudulantly. You can say that happens all you want. Show me where that is happening. If indeed there is a problem with voter fraud, certainly absentee ballots is where it would occur, and yet there are precious few cases in which this has been shown to be the case. These laws are designed to restrict voter turnout, plain and simple.
I'd be careful before you declare an "ass kicking." If there is any movement it the number of seats, it will be a few seats one way or the other. I'm not confident that the GOP can go through the months leading up to the election without stepping on their collective dicks and blowing it like they did two years ago. And even if they don't, they still might not win. If the GOP thought it could win an election without gerrymandering, unlimited special interest money, and restrictive laws, it would just do that and not revert to dirty tricks to try to win. Why not let the issues make the case with the American people. Oh wait, if it were actually decided on issues, the GOP would lose seats almost every year because someone forgot to tell them we don't live in the 1950s anymore, and virtually every growing minority (by race, sexual orientation, and gender) favors the Democrats, and it gets more pronounced every day.
