By Friday afternoon, Watt decided he’d better stay put in Washington.

If only the courts could make the same kind of quick decision about the fate of Watt’s 12th District.

“I keep thinking, any day now,” Watt said.

Last November, a three-judge federal panel held a trial on the merits of a 1997 plan for the district’s boundaries. The focus of that trial was whether the district boundaries were predominantly based on race and, therefore, invalid — as the federal panel had ruled.

The question went to trial because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last May that the federal judges had erred in rejecting the 1997 plan without a trial. The state subsequently presented its case that the boundaries were valid and not predominantly based on race.

Opponents, led by Duke University professor Robinson Everett, argued that race was the guiding force behind the 1997 boundaries.

Watt and potential opponents for his 12th District seat have been waiting since last November to hear the judges’ decision, because it could drastically change again the footprint of the 12th District.

“It’s so confusing at this point that there’s an overwhelming need for the court to make a disposition of this case,” Watt said.

Here are some of the confusing points:

• At present, candidates who file for the 12th District seat are actually filing under the 1997 plan, which has never been a real congressional district.

When the federal panel rejected the 1997 plan, the General Assembly postponed the 1998 congressional primaries, approved a more compact 12th District and held an election, even though the 1997 plan was under appeal.

• The federal judges’ ruling that everybody is waiting for isn’t necessarily an either-or decision. A rejection of the 1997 plan would not automatically mean the 1998 plan will be acceptable again.

“The ‘98 plan has never really been before the court,” Watt said.

• No matter what district boundaries for the 12th are settled on, they will be redrawn again in 2001 based on new census information being gathered this year.

Under the 1997 plan, Rowan County was divided between two congressmen: Watt in the 12th and Republican Howard Coble of Greensboro in the 6th District. The 1997 district version, as a whole, stretched in a thin band from Charlotte to Greensboro with a branch out to Winston-Salem.

The 1998 plan put all of Rowan County in the 12th District, along with portions of Mecklenburg, Forsyth, Davidson and Iredell counties.

Without fanfare, Watt paid his $1,376 filing fee for re-election a couple of weeks ago. Watt said he views his filing as just holding his place for now. There’s a chance all candidates will have to refile again, depending on what the judges decide.

So far, other than Watt, Republicans John Cosgrove of Winston-Salem, Chad Mitchell of Faith and Leonard Plyler of Iredell County have filed as candidates. As a resident of Faith, Mitchell would not be in the 12th District if the 1997 plan is approved.

(A person does not have to live in the congressional district for which he is running, but he does have to reside in the same state.)

The confusion over the 12th District boundaries led 1998 GOP nominee J. Scott Keadle to file instead as a candidate for a state Senate seat. Landis Mayor Fred Steen, also a Republican, has an organization in place to run in the 12th District, but he has waited to see what the judges decide.

“I’m very concerned about it,” Cosgrove said, noting that he already has deposited “a ton of money” — his own money — into a campaign account.

Cosgrove predicts that the 1997 lines will be judged unconstitutional again.

“I believe that the ‘98 lines are going to hold,” Cosgrove said Friday.

Watt, who is black, noted that the 1997 plan would have a higher percentage of minority voters — 46 percent to 35 percent — than the 1998 district.

“Clearly, that district probably would be a bit more friendly to me and philosophically more progressive than the ‘98 district would,” Watt said.

But Watt emphasized that he won in the redrawn 1998 district and made concerted efforts to represent all of the district since then. He would be comfortable continuing with the 1998 district intact, Watt added.

“From a re-election perspective, I think I could win in either one of the plans,” he said.

Watt described the 1997 plan as more urban in nature. As for Rowan County, he said he didn’t always consider the county’s being divided among two or three congressman as a disadvantage.