Yesterday’s New York Times offered this report, which includes the following:

One major reason Democrats are pessimistic about taking back the House can be found in Texas. In redrawing the boundaries of Congressional districts last year in favor of Republicans, the Texas Legislature built a fire wall against potential losses elsewhere in the country. The formerly Democratic-dominated House delegation from Texas is now evenly divided, with 16 members of each party, and Republicans say they hope to end up with a minimum of 20 seats. That number, they say, would better reflect the state’s political bent.
The new lines have already persuaded one Texas Democrat to switch parties and created one district where Democrats are not even fielding a candidate. “We’ve already picked up two seats and we haven’t even had an election,” observed Tom DeLay of Texas, the House majority leader, who was a main architect of the redistricting.