By Bob Morgan, Jr.

Now that the dust has cleared over the stimulus legislation, a number of other political challenges lay ahead for President Barack Obama's Administration on such diverse issues as the 2010 census, "card check" union legislation and the reimposition of the Fairness Doctrine.

On balance, the stimulus fight was a political victory for Team Obama. The Administration managed to hold together the majority Democrats in Congress, while offering just enough concessions to get the votes of three Republicans in the Senate. President Obama's televised news conference and barnstorming tour helped shore up support for the bill at a time when opponents were starting to get some traction with their argument that the legislation was more about increasing the size of government than about stimulating the economy. Whatever the economic merits of the legislation (count me as believing it will do more harm than good), Mr. Obama showed considerable political muscle in getting it enacted quickly and largely in the form he proposed.

But numerous other potential political firestorms lay ahead. The Obama Administration announced that the census director for the 2010 would be reporting to the White House rather than simply to the Secretary of Commerce, as is customary. All of this is part of an underlying dispute as to whether "sampling" techniques should be used for the census to attempt to estimate the number of certain missing persons, or whether a specific headcount is required (the Constitution speaks of an "actual enumeration"). The obvious issue with sampling, which has not been used before in the actual census count, is that the assumptions behind such techniques are subject to political manipulation. Obviously, the fear of manipulation is increased by the direct oversight by the White House. Republicans are not likely to be any more happy with a role in the census by the office of Rahm Emanuel any more than Democrats would have appreciated participation by Karl Rove.

Then there is the pending "card check" legislation (called by its sponsors the Employee Free Choice Act), which allows a union to be established when a majority of employees sign cards supporting a union, rather than by secret ballot as under present law. Employers strenuously oppose this legislation because employees with reservations about a union can be coerced to sign the cards. The legislation, strongly backed by organized labor, passed the House in the last Congress, but was filibustered in the Senate.

Its reintroduction will likely lead to a pitched battle again in the Senate, which has added new Democratic members. Nevertheless, while the Obama Administration no doubt will support this measure in public, it will be interesting to see whether it will actually go to the mat for a bill ending secret ballot elections, which is likely to be unpopular with the public.

Finally, at least two Democratic senators have indicated support for reimposition of the so-called Fairness Doctrine, previously abandoned in the 1980's, which requires a "fair balance" of opinion on the airwaves. The obvious target of this effort is conservative talk radio programs of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others. (Liberal talkers do not get as good ratings, so imposition of the Fairness Doctrine would make station owners less inclined to carry the conservatives.) There are obvious free speech and constitutional objections to the Fairness Doctrine (it was upheld by the courts when there were many fewer news outlets), and it cannot be seriously argued that liberal views are absent from the media. This issue as well poses thorny political problems for the Obama Administration.