REGIONAL TROUBLE…. As everyone now knows, Bill Owens will be the first Democrat to represent New York’s 23rd since the mid-19th century, after defeating Doug Hoffman yesterday. This got me thinking about the representation of the region.

New York has 29 congressional districts. As of today, the state is represented by 27 Democrats. As recently as a few years ago, Dems had “only” 21 seats from New York.

What’s more, New England, made up of six states, has 22 congressional districts. Currently, the region is represented by 22 Democrats.

So, north of the Pennsylvania border, there 51 congressional districts representing 34 million people. Republicans have a whopping two seats.

Just a random observation.

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Follow Steve on Twitter @stevebenen. Steve Benen is a producer at MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show. He was the principal contributor to the Washington Monthly's Political Animal blog from August 2008 until January 2012.