Michele Bachmann could lose her seat because of the 2010 Census

Jason Linkins
jason@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting

First Posted: 01- 5-10 05:48 PM | Updated: 01- 5-10 08:34 PM

Only six months ago that Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) was feverishly encouraging people to refuse to fill out their census forms, because of ACORN...and the Japanese internment camps...and, junk?

It was, I'm sure, eloquently expressed at the time. But now, as the editors of the Minnesota Star-Tribune point out, this could all backfire on Bachmann. As it turns out, it's really important for Minnesotans to participate in the census, lest they lose a seat in Congress:

Minnesotans have extra incentive this year to be sure they are counted -- and counted here -- by the decennial U.S. census that will begin in March. The retention of the state's current complement of eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives is on the line.

State demographer Tom Gillaspy has been warning for months that the next census could result in the loss of one congressional seat in Minnesota.

In fact, he confessed last week that, until the recession hit, he was almost resigned to the probability that Minnesotans would be allowed to elect only seven U.S. House members from newly drawn districts in 2012.

According to Gillaspy, Minnesota is one of the states that are "on the cusp" of losing a seat in the House because of population, and is generally seen to be in competition with three other states -- Texas, Missouri, and California -- for three Congressional seats.

In the past, the editors of he the Star-Tribune say, Minnesota has been advantaged by "the cooperation of its civic-minded citizens." But that was before their representative was telling everyone that the Census was some sort of diabolical ACORN plot to spread socialism, or something.

It's ironic that a Minnesota member of Congress, Republican Michele Bachmann, went so far last summer to declare her intention to only partially complete her census forms, and to suggest reasons for others not to comply with the census law.

If Minnesota loses a congressional seat, Bachmann's populous Sixth District could be carved into pieces. She likely would have to battle another incumbent to hang on to her seat.

We've noticed that her anticensus rhetoric has lately ceased. We hope she got wise: Census compliance is not only in Minnesota's best interest, but also her own.

See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/05/biggest-victim-of-michele_n_412362.html

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