But, Matheson said, given what Utah GOP legislators did to him in 2001 — his all-Salt Lake County district was pushed out to the east and south so that Matheson's district now runs from 700 East in Salt Lake City to the Colorado border and down to St. George and Cedar City — "Does anyone actually believe they couldn't" draw a more GOP district if they wanted to?

In any case, said Bishop, even if the Legislature has another shot at Matheson before the 2010 Census, he wouldn't be any worse off politically with new boundaries.

But that's not the only alternative. For example, Utah could pick to have one at-large U.S. House seat until legislators could redraw the state for, say, 2008 or 2010, depending on when the bill passed, Bishop said.

But personal politics shouldn't rule, Bishop said. "It is so critical" for Utah to have another voice in the U.S. House that any one person's political concerns shouldn't stand in the way of helping out the state, Bishop said.

Bishop's claims are silly, Matheson said.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, told Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Congress, in April that he would not bring the Davis bill up for a vote this year. "And that's the end of that," said Matheson, who added he was not influencing DeLay.

There are many political problems with the issue, said Matheson, not the least of which is a voting rights act for Washington, D.C. — "an issue here long before I came to the House."

While it is almost certain that a D.C. seat would remain Democratic for a long, long time, after 2010, and Utah got its fourth seat via the new census, the numbers in the House would drop from 437 back to 435. And where that "extra" seat would be lost is up for debate.

Some say it could be a loss to the Democrats, which would — all other things being equal — keep the balance. Others believe it could be a lost Republican seat. And then Democrats would automatically be up two seats in a House already closely divided. There are now 229 Republicans, 205 Democrats and one independent.

And GOP and Democratic leaders, analysts say, don't want to be blamed for losing any of their party's U.S. House seats because of a controversial bill aimed at getting Washington, D.C., a vote in the House, no matter how noble that goal may be.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com