D.C. Vote's Stars Are Aligning, Davis Says

Davis also agreed to make the two new seats permanent instead of returning the House to 435 members after the 2010 Census. Under the original plan, a state with declining population would have been forced to sacrifice a seat to the District, an unpopular notion.

"This is a political compromise," Waxman said. "I expect most if not all Democrats will go along with this."

One issue is unresolved: The proposal would give Utah another vote in the Electoral College in 2008, a prospect unlikely to please Democrats. Davis aides said the topic will require further legal research and additional discussions.

Davis and Norton are also working to line up support in the Senate. Should the House approve the measure, the Senate leadership would look to Virginia's two Republican senators, John W. Warner and George Allen, as well as Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) for guidance in dealing with the plan, said Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson.

With a bipartisan coalition backing the bill, supporters say it has a chance to win congressional approval this year.

Norton said the new bill gives her real hope that she may soon gain all the privileges of House membership and cast a vote in memory of one her great-grandfathers, a Virginia slave who came to Washington in the 1850s.

District officials, who strongly backed Davis's original plan, quickly rallied behind the new one.

"The District leadership is now clearly behind this," said council member Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), who pushed a resolution supporting Davis's old bill through the council last year. "The council has spoken, the mayor has spoken, and now our congressional delegate has signed on."

Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), who was traveling in Africa, released a statement saying "this could be the year our city finally wins the same rights enjoyed by other American cities."

Staff writers Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray contributed to this report.