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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Although unobserved by the public, a profound tension grips the state Capitol as the end of a decade approaches. Tempers flare, plots are crafted, deals are cut and the fight for survival intensifies.

The census is coming.

Once a decade, the Legislature is required by law to take the latest census figures and draw new political boundaries to account for changes in population. The Legislature draws new maps for Assembly, Senate and Congressional districts to reflect the shifts in population within the state and to include those who have come into the state during the preceding 10 years.

This procedure, called reapportionment, sounds simple and straightforward, and it seems to make sense, at least on its face. Equalizing the population in the districts, for example, means that a person who lives in San Diego has just as much representation as a person living in Alturas, even though the former is a highly urbanized community and the latter is in a rural area.

Until the 1960s, the California Senate was considered something of an agrarian country club, with some of its powerful, senior members representing not people but vast tracts of emptiness.

But the reality of reapportionment -- a politician's most bitter, partisan activity -- is far more complex.

First, the law says the Legislature draws the maps. But what that really means is that the party that controls the Legislature draws the maps. Currently, both houses are run by Democrats.

And although the redistricting is supposed to follow natural population trends, the reality is that the majority party seeks to draw boundaries that maximize its own power and cripples its rival. That means that the new districts are likely to include as much Democratic registration as possible, and that GOP districts will be "squeezed" into as few districts as possible.

The squeezing bring us to the next step. When districts are condensed, members of the same party are forced to fight each other for their political survival. These races are fierce and leave bitter memories. Capitol insiders, for example, still recall the ugly race between Sens. John Doolittle and Ray Johnson, a reapportionment-spawned battle that Doolittle -- who has since been elected to Congress -- won.

The final step is the governor's action. A governor of the same party as the majority party generally signs into law the gerrymandered maps, as did former Gov. Jerry Brown.

The current governor, Republican Pete Wilson, was virtually drafted by the GOP to run for governor in 1990 in order to veto the Democrats' maps eight years ago. He did precisely that, and this year the Republicans' hopes to thwart the Democrats rest squarely with Republican gubernatorial contender Dan Lungren.

A great deal is at stake for Republicans in Lungren's election. At campaign stops, reapportionment is rarely mentioned in the speeches that Lungren and Democratic rival Gray Davis deliver to the public. But the political pros in both parties know that reapportionment is the driving force behind both campaigns. For example, a shift of five Republican seats to the Democrats in the congressional races could mean the end of House Speaker Newt Gingrich's reign.

Moreover, Democratic maps could blunt the impact of what appears to be a continuing increase in Republican registration, particularly in California's booming suburbs.

This is the single biggest reason for Lungren's recent request to national GOP leaders to pour money into California's Republican campaigns.

The stakes have never been higher.

Ya know what? The media are not the conspiracy either. Those guys are just trying hard to guess what the public wants and please their sponsors at the same time. Sometimes they get a little lazy.

Maybe if we would spend less time bashing them and just tell them that what we really want is accurate reporting (boring that it may be), they will listen.

Another less naive approach would be to read a broader range of views.

-Sarah Rath

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