WASHINGTON (AP) - The closely watched 2010 census will likely
show America's once-torrid population growth dropping to the lowest
level since possibly the Great Depression. In Congress, the steady
migration to the South and West will be a boon to Republicans with
GOP-leaning states such as Texas picking up new House seats.
The Census Bureau expects to release on Tuesday the first
results from the once-a-decade government count, figures that will
be used to reapportion the 435 House seats among the 50 states.
The numbers trigger a high-stakes process where the dominant party in
each state redraws the election map to shape the political
landscape for the next 10 years.
Demographers believe the official 2010 count will be 308.7
million people or lower, putting U.S. growth at around 9 percent,
the lowest since the 1940 census.