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As the time period for accepting mailed-in census forms rolls to a close, the Census Bureau will deploy thousands of door-to-door census-takers – and the help of one former senior adviser to President George W. Bush. The Census Bureau today released a new public service announcement featuring Bush Administration alum and Fox News contributor Karl Rove.
“If you’ve not yet mailed back your 2010 census form, it’s not too late,” Rove says in the ad. “Please answer the ten easy questions. They’re almost the same ones Madison helped write for the first census in 1790.” In fact, it was founding father James Madison who made the Census Bureau think “Rove.” Samantha O’Neil, a Public Affairs Specialist with the bureau, tells Fox they found Rove through the Montpelier Foundation, which manages Madison’s estate. “When we were at Montpelier filming a piece with our director, the Montpelier Foundation recommended him as one of their supporters. We just approached him and asked if he wanted to do something relating to the census and the Constitution,” she says.
The ad comes days after Census Bureau Director Robert Groves cited lagging census participation in Rove’s home state. “We’re concerned about the relatively low response from parts of Texas,” Groves said in a March 30th written statement. Some Republicans worry that disillusionment with government expansion will cause a dip in census participation by conservatives. Rove says that’s exactly why he participated in the ad campaign, “The census is used to reapportion the US Congress and I didn’t want people, particularly conservatives, to not be counted. They need to know that this determines what states get.”
Though Rove received two census forms, one for his Washington, D.C. residence and another for his place in Texas, he opted to fill-in the latter, saying his Texas home is the one that counts.
Other participants in the bureau’ s public service announcement campaign include President Obama, Miss America Caressa Cameron, Donny Osmond, and, most recently, civil rights leader Dorothy Height.