Crist, Rubio Spar Over Counting illegals in Census

The argument is academic at this point, since the census has already begun. Nevertheless, Charlie Crist is taking the opportunistic stand as opposed Rubio's more principled one:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio has come out against including illegal immigrants in the national census — even though doing so could significantly reduce Florida’s political power and share of federal funding. …

But, later, a spokesman for Rubio’s Senate campaign said that Rubio did “not support a congressional reapportionment process that counts illegal immigrant populations when allocating seats.” Alex Burgos said Rubio’s position “stems from a concern about rightful representation in Congress and ensuring that every voter has an equal voice.” …

Crist went to North Miami on Tuesday to urge everyone to participate in the census.

“The people of Florida represent a rich legacy of diverse cultures, backgrounds and experiences, and want to be represented accordingly,” Crist said. “Florida families should participate in the 2010 census to ensure our state receives the funding necessary to meet the needs of our citizens.”

Illegal immigrants are not citizens but Crist wants to redefine the word while resorting to the usual "diversity" pandering. He then goes a cynical step further in his criticism of Rubio:

“Florida deserves to have her fair share. And I think making sure that we count every single Floridian is vitally important. That’s why I went to the school yesterday in North Miami,” Crist said.

“It is important. It’s important to our state, it’s important to our people. And the notion that you would not want to accept federal funding to make a political statement is absurd.”

It's not just a political statement, it is a defense of the rule of law and the Constitution. What's absurd is Crist's acceptance of an overbearing federal government that forces states to beg Washington for the return of its citizens money in the form of pork. What's more absurd is the notion that illegal immigrants should be counted in the census in order to get more of that pork.

Perhaps if states didn't receive funding for illegals, they would be less accepting of the problem and would lobby Washington to do its job and protect the borders.

More from Hot Air:

But there is also $400 billion in federal programs available to states, allocated in large part on the basis of population. Crist wants a bigger piece of that pie, and Rubio also acknowledged that those kinds of considerations are not unimportant. That should demonstrate how federal programs distort political processes, though, and not give an excuse to pork feeders at the trough. The Constitutional requirement for a Census every ten years is to make sure that Americans have fair representation in the House, not to determine which little piggy gets the most slop.