December 30, 1991

Republicans are at least holding their own in the first stages of this decade's battles over Congressional redistricting and may have an early advantage in the effort to draw district lines in a way that may help them elect more representatives. After decades of complaining that Democratic gerrymandering denied them their fair share of seats in the House of Representatives, Republicans are making progress this time with more Republican judges and the new demands of the Voting Rights Act, which make it harder for Democrats to spread minority voters around to help several candidates. Shaping Election Victories For years, Republicans have complained that while they get nearly half of the total national votes for House candidates, they rarely win more than about 40 percent of the seats, and they blame gerrymandering. There are other reasons for this apparent anomaly, including low vote totals in many solidly Democratic big city districts.

When Carlos Salinas de Gortari went to the United States recently, he did the sort of things that Mexican presidents have usually done on such visits. He had breakfast with Henry A. Kissinger. He had lunch with business leaders in New York. And he met with President Bush. But Mr. Salinas also did things in connection with this trip that no Mexican President had done before -- like visiting with the president of the Mexican Soccer League of New Rochelle, N.Y., sending lobbyists all over Capitol Hill, and giving an award to a Mexican-American human rights advocate who has criticized the pace of Mr. Salinas's political reforms.

Although European officials and executives see large payoffs for economic growth when trade barriers come down a year from now, they are currently preoccupied with the slowdown caused in large part by the Bundesbank's raising of interest rates against the wishes of the other nations of the European Community. The decision by the German central bank to go its own way on Dec. 19, even though Britain, France and Italy wanted lower rates, shows that despite all the lofty rhetoric, European unity is easier said than done.

CHICAGO, Dec. 29 -- The Chicago Bears' offense took the football and drove all over Soldier Field today, but something ugly kept happening nearly every time it approached the Dallas goal line. The Cowboys might as well have posted a sign there that said, "Do Not Enter." The Bears obliged, anyway.

For 30 years now Shaker Heights, a suburban forest of Old World estates on the eastern border of Cleveland, has made racial integration something of a crusade. It has tried to hold the races together even as they appear alienated outside its borders. The city has found that integration is not only difficult to begin but also difficult to maintain. If it is to occur at all, residents here say, it requires prodding and pampering and a kind of eternal vigilance and preoccupation with race. The city goes so far as to provide financial incentives to those who move into neighborhoods dominated by the other race.