Gregg's Census Phantom

No one can figure out what the hell Gregg was talking about when he said that he was withdrawing from the Commerce Secretary nomination, because of A. the stimulus framework that has been pretty obvious for months, and B. some dispute over how the census is run.

Although the census sounds like the most boring thing possible--literally just counting people--it's also, ultimately one of the most important things in politics. It decides how districts are drawn, and thus, who controls them. So maybe Gregg really has a problem with Obama's ideas for the census.

And maybe, hopefully, his census beef had something to do with this? Counting inmates where their prisons are is a real issue that helps Republicans and hurts Democrats. It's insane. I don't know if it would actually mean much outside of New York and California, but it has the feel of something that could take a lot of weight away from Republicans over the long term.

Update:
Gregg's census thing actually had something to do with either:
a. How Hispanics are counted--sounds like some Dems want to do estimated counting, probably because people are scared to talk to census-takers, or
b. an Abramoff problem (itunes link 2/13 show).

But the inmate counting thing is for real.