"The Democrats want to politicize the taking of the census. To doctor it in such a way that the Democrats are assured of staying in power."

Good grief, Doug! You have it exactly backwards! The White House is assuming oversight on the census to avoid politisizing the count.
The last couple of census seemed like were not conducted well to get all the population counted....It is almost certain, though no one can 'prove' it, that Judd Gregg changed his mind about being Sec. of Commerce at least partly because he learned he would NOT be able to control the census!
The Republicans didn't want lots of hard-to-find minority populations found. Gregg decided that if he couldn't make a difference, he might as well stay where he was and not have to pretend to like Obama's agenda.