TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - After years of losing residents to more prosperous states, the nation's Rust Belt now confronts another blow to its economic prospects: losing some of its votes in Congress.

The latest census figures show that states in much of the Midwest and Northeast have been overtaken in population growth by the South and West. So starting in 2013, they will have to make do with smaller delegations in Washington, which means less political clout to attract government money and jobs.

"These states in the industrial heartland and to some extent in the Northeast have seen their impact eroded," said Norman Ornstein, a political scientist with the American Enterprise Institute. "It's not totally devastating. . But numbers do matter"...