Down On The Count

The fact that Republicans generally oppose sampling in the census draws reflexive fire from Democrats, not to mention minorities, most of whom happen to be Democrats.

So, when Texas Gov. George W. Bush said recently that if he had received the long form in the mail he would have thought long and hard before filling it out, it only raised the level of indignation among census stalwarts.

How can someone who wants to hold the highest office in the land suggest in public that Americans should not feel obligated to fill out the census long form, Bush's detractors argued. Sure, it's long, they say. Sure, it takes a few hours to fill out. But it's the critical, organic data out of which the very fabric of the United States is woven.

However, say Bush's detractors, the Texas governor's slightly subversive comments mask a larger transgression with respect to the census: his resistance to the use of statistical sampling.

Bush says he simply wants everyone counted, not estimated - a position favored by constitutional purists, who point to the founding document's call for an "enumeration."

But Hispanic and black leaders, in Texas and elsewhere, reject this argument as a convenient excuse for the GOP to protect its congressional majority. Pro-sampling advocates, mostly Democrats, say that if the count were truly accurate, their ranks would swell in Congress and they would receive a larger share of federal appropriations money.

So top-level Democrats are applying pressure to revamp the once-a-decade counting season to include statistical sampling.

"I want to say to Gov. Bush, if you really believe that every American counts, it's time to stand up to the operatives in your own party and support a census that count every American," Vice President Al Gore said at a recent campaign stop.

The Census Bureau itself favors the use of statistical sampling. Census officials, who bend over backwards to stay out of politics, nevertheless say that adjusting to account for groups typically missed, including minorities and inner-city dwellers, would yield a more accurate count.

But a complete head count is the only way to go, Bush insists.

"Gov. Bush took this position because he believes, based upon principle, that every American of every ethnic group should be counted," said campaign spokeswoman Mindy Tucker. "He wants all of the Hispanics and all of the minorities in Texas and elsewhere to be counted, not estimated."

The census is a tough call for Bush, says University of Texas-Pan American political scientist Jerry Polinard. It's not just the promise of more federal money for Texas that is involved, he said, but also "bringing more power to the Democrats."

Whatever the outcome of this ongoing census squabble, the fact is that there are many Democrats in Texas - not that you hear about them as much as the state's vaunted GOP - and in the parlance of the Lone Star State, they are hoppin' mad. Not only is the governor costing them millions of dollars with his census-unfriendly words, but he may also be curtailing their power.

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