That's the most striking finding of a project the AP has been planning with members for weeks, "Redrawing America: Imbalance of Power ... how gerrymandering benefited GOP in 2016," by David Lieb:

• "The AP scrutinized the outcomes of all 435 U.S. House races and about 4,700 state House and Assembly seats up for election last year."
• "The analysis found four times as many states with Republican-skewed state House or Assembly districts than Democratic ones. Among the two dozen most populated states that determine the vast majority of Congress, there were nearly three times as many with Republican-tilted U.S. House districts."
• "Traditional battlegrounds such as Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida and Virginia were among those with significant Republican advantages in their U.S. or state House races. All had districts drawn by Republicans after the last Census in 2010."
• "[E]ven if Democrats had turned out in larger numbers, their chances of substantial legislative gains were limited by gerrymandering."

Bottom line: These four have one very important thing in common that likely drew Trump's attention: money. "Trump likes alpha males that...have made a lot of money," one former Goldman partner said. This report gives one of the most thorough inside accounts of these key WH players and provides insight into what we can expect from the Trump admin moving forward.

Gary Cohn, chief economic adviser

• A former Goldman partner explained to Cohan why he though Gary Cohn, a lifelong Democrat, would accept the offer to join Trump's WH staff: "This was an incredibly sort of convenient and opportune kind of thing that came along for Gary because—whether he was going to Washington or not—Gary was out."
• Cohn reportedly became "overconfident" in his role at Goldman when he was filling in for his boss, who was undergoing lymphoma treatment, in 2015. He approached various board members about making him CEO of the company during this time, but it didn't work out — "there was a lot of loyalty" to Cohn's boss at Goldman.
• Other Goldman colleagues dispute this account, saying that instead of making "power plays" for CEO, Cohn simply started hearing out the other offers coming his way, which included one from POTUS.
• His WH role: A former Goldman partner who still talks with Cohn told VF that Cohn is "dedicated to making sure the U.S. doesn't start any ridiculous trade wars or do something 'crazy' on health care."

Steven Mnuchin, treasury secretary

• "I think Steve Mnuchin's homework is being checked by Gary Cohn," a former Goldman partner told VF.
• A Washington insider told Cohan about the friction between Cohn and Mnuchin, saying Mnuchin seems "insecure in his role."
• "[Now] he's going around with ... Trump -like guys, which is really different than [who he was], which was a bit socially awkward, very smart, really into teamwork. I would have sworn he was a Democrat—a liberal Democrat."

Steve Bannon, chief White House strategist

• Bannon isn't considered part of the Goldman Sachs crew at the White House, in part because he only spent four years there.
• "What was unusual about him was he was a huge patriot and kept thinking the country was going to hell. He was really concerned about the United States of America. But I was never quite sure what he thought was wrong it. ...He was never quite able to articulate it in a way that I understood."

Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser

• Powell is one of the WH Goldman members who's seen an almost meteoric rise.
• "The most remarkable thing about Dina Powell is that she can manage up better than anybody I've ever seen in my entire life," one former Goldman colleague told Cohan.
• As Cohan notes in his piece, Vogue recently referred to Powell as Trump's "right-hand woman."
• She's credited as the person responsible for Trump's relatively successful Middle East trip, and she has prior WH experience.
• "She's the best politician I've ever met in my life. She can work an organization better than anyone I've ever seen. Unlike the rest of us, she has prior White House experience, and she really knows how this place works," a Washington insider said.

Pompeo argued there's an almost obsession with leakers:

"In some ways, I do think it's accelerated. I think there is a phenomenon, the worship of Edward Snowden, and those who steal American secrets for the purpose of self-aggrandizement or money or for whatever their motivation may be, does seem to be on the increase."

And he detailed who's trying to access classified info:

"It's tough. You now have not only nation states trying to steal our stuff, but non-state, hostile intelligence services, well-funded — folks like WikiLeaks, out there trying to steal American secrets for the sole purpose of undermining the United States and democracy."

Pompeo described how Trump and Obama differ in the way they communicated with the intelligence community:

"President Obama consumed his intelligence in a different way. President Trump is incredibly demanding of the intelligence community, asks us incredibly difficult questions, and then counts on myself and other leaders in the IC to deliver those answers for him."

And he responded to criticism that some say Trump is "uninterested in facts":

"I cannot imagine a statement that is any more false than the one that would attribute President Trump not being interested in intelligence and facts when it comes to national security. He is an avid consumer of the products we provide, thinks about them, and comes back and asks great questions. And then, perhaps most importantly, relies upon that information."