RNC chairman looks to redraw electoral map

>>> are coming out against the republican plan to redraw electoral maps. the gop scrambles to rebrand itself in the hope of drawing new voters. joining me now political analyst mark murray . good morning, mark.

>> good morning, alex.

>> explain how the plan would work.

>> most electoral votes across the country are apportioned by a win evener take all basis. for example, if a candidate wins the election in virginia , they get all the electoral votes . this was being considered in states like virginia , michigan , pennsylvania , the electoral votes would be apportioned by congressional district . and just to show you how much things would end up changing, due to all the gerrymandering with the concentration of a lot of democratic votes in urban areas to a handful of congressional districts , mitt romney would have had more electoral votes in the state of virginia , nine to barack obama 's four, even though barack obama won the state by four percentage points. and 150,000 overall votes.

>> that's the state of virginia and overall, you look at the numbers, romney would have gotten 273, obama, 262, if it had gone that way nationwide. that's an extraordinary change. but the question, this constitutional?

>> it is. states are allowed to decide how their electoral votes are divvied up. two states already do this by congressional district . nebraska and maine. never been a problem, mainly because maine has been seen as a blue state . nebraska, a red state and they have few electoral votes . what created controversy here, the states that are potentially considering this, like virginia , like michigan , like pennsylvania . these are traditionally battleground states that could end up having an impact on the presidential election future contest if they are adopted.

>> first, who is supporting this?

>> these are republican state lawmakers across the country doing this. and one of the arguments in favor of this, they believe this would give rural community, rural skroeters, more of a say in elections, the counterargument, that is taking the votes away from a lot of urban voters, democratic voters and people believe this is a way to have the republican party have a significant advantage in future presidential contests. by the example of virginia that i mentioned or the nationwide thing, republicans, due to the fact that they control much of the redistricting after 2012 , would have a big, big advantage.

>> if governor mcdonnell is coming out against it, it kills it for that state effectively. what about everywhere else?

>> yesterday, due to a lot of publicity about this type of legislation that virginia is considering, and supposed to be considered as early as this coming week it seems virginia will not be enacting this. the question is, whatens up happening to other states across the country, like pennsylvania , like michigan ? a state like wisconsin pursue this? that's a state we'll be following?

>> okay. so we'll be following you for that and a lot of other things. mark murray , thank you.