RALEIGH

If state legislators return this fall for a special session to redraw legislative districts, they may not do much before Nov. 2 - the date that marks a year before the 2004 general election.

Because the state constitution requires candidates to live in their district a year before an election, legislators increasingly suspect that legislative leaders will call a redistricting session after Nov. 2 to limit candidates' efforts to move from one district to another.

The N.C. Supreme Court issued a ruling last month that put the drawing of new legislative districts squarely in the hands of legislators. But House Co-Speakers Richard Morgan and Jim Black have been vague about the precise dates for a redistricting session.

Though legislators could return as soon as mid-October, 'We've looked at coming back in mid-November or later,' said Morgan, the Republican co-speaker.

'Yes, there's been a school of thought ... that if you draw the redistricting plans after Nov. 2, then whatever is drawn ... is where people will have to run and people will have to reside,' he said. 'If somebody didn't like their district, then under that school of thought, they would not be able to move.'

There have been instances when the State Board of Elections was asked to relax the residency requirement - especially in years such as 2002 when districts were drawn less than a year before the election. But the state board stood by the one-year residency requirement last year.

So the prospect that members could be drawn into the same districts as their friends and colleagues and have to run against them has some of Morgan's legislative enemies nervous.

'I know they are,' said Rep. Frank Mitchell, R-Iredell, one of a group of Republicans who backed Republican Reps. Leo Daughtry, R-Johnston, and George Holmes, R-Yadkin, for speaker this year rather than Morgan.

'I've already been told that he's got George Holmes and myself running against each other, and (Rep. Billy) Creech and Daughtry,' Mitchell said, listing two Johnston County Republicans.

Mitchell said that Morgan could also put his home in the same district as Rep. Julia Howard, R-Davie, a Morgan ally whose district already includes part of Iredell County.

'He has publicly stated he wants to 'purge' the Republican caucus, and that was his word,' Mitchell said. 'He's just that type of person - he likes to make life miserable for us.'

If districts are drawn after the deadline for legislators to move, Mitchell said, 'I've got two choices: I can stay at my farm and take a chance that I won't be gerrymandered out. Or I can rent a house somewhere else that I think will be safe before Nov. 2. Or I can take out a post-office box and buy a motor home.'

If Morgan orders districts that pit incumbent Republicans against one another, Mitchell said, 'I think he's going to bring the wrath of the Republican Party down on him. Because he has no right to gerrymander Republicans out.'

But Morgan said yesterday that he, Black and the co-chairmen of the House Redistricting Committee are still listening to members' proposals for new districts and haven't made any decisions.

'We're just not there,' he said. 'Everybody's talking about what we're going to do, and it seems to me some careful deliberation and study ought to occur first.'

? David Rice can be reached in Raleigh at (919) 833-9056 or at drice@wsjournal.com