Census 2010

Here's yet another result of the bad economy: California's congressional delegation is unlikely to grow and could even lose a seat after next year's census for the first time since stagecoach days. If the state loses a seat, it could weaken California's clout in Washington and reduce the amount of federal money flowing to the state. It could also set off a game of political musical chairs, forcing two incumbents to run against each other.

In a high-stakes battle that could affect California's share of federal funding and political representation, immigrant activists are vowing to combat efforts by a national Latino clergy group to persuade 1 million illegal immigrants to boycott the 2010 U.S. census. The Washington, D.C.

About this time every decade, the U.S. begins to hanker for the next great national self-portrait. That old still life that told us who we were -- magnificent as it once was in scope and detail -- has grown dusty and is ready for the closet. It's the time when the Census Bureau begins mustering the army of enumerators and tabulators who will reach across the country to tally us up in all our dynamism and diversity.

U.S. officials kicked off plans Wednesday for a test run of the 2010 census in this San Joaquin Valley city, one of two places in the nation selected because its diverse immigrants, migrant laborers and suburban commuters reflect many of the challenges that make California notoriously difficult to count. "They're a microcosm of the country," U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Cynthia A. Glassman said as she toured the area.

With sprawling enclaves of immigrants, crowded housing conditions and pockets of deep poverty, Los Angeles is regarded as the nation's most difficult county for census-takers to count. But as they gear up for the decennial census beginning in April, officials are beefing up efforts to reach the region's far-flung polyglot communities with more community outreach staff and language assistance, including a first-ever bilingual English-Spanish census form. At a meeting last week in downtown Los Angeles, U.S. census officials met with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, dozens of community activists, nonprofit leaders and state and local government representatives to craft strategies on how to reach the 4.4 million people who live in "hard-to-count" neighborhoods in Los Angeles County.

The nation's census chief said Tuesday that the housing crisis, the economic recession and waves of new immigrants could make an accurate 2010 count more difficult and expensive than a decade ago. Robert Groves, U.S. Census Bureau director, said widespread housing foreclosures have displaced many people, making them harder and more expensive to count. Increased immigration has heightened the challenge of reaching people in their own languages and assuring them of the census' importance and privacy safeguards.

Southern California pastors representing 1,200 Latino Protestant congregations unveiled plans Monday to marshal their collective forces to urge full participation in the 2010 census and reject calls to boycott the decennial count. The pastors, who represent evangelical, Pentecostal and mainline Protestant churches, said they were worried that widespread media coverage of the boycott call might inhibit participation in the census, particularly by undocumented immigrants. The boycott call was launched earlier this year by a national Latino evangelical clergy group to protest the lack of progress on immigration reform.