D.C. sees some hope over statehood issue.

• Position: Nation

WASHINGTON (AP) - Advocates of statehood for the District of Columbia - "the last colony," according to their bumper stickers - are taking heart from President Bush's endorsement of expanding the union to embrace another place, the island of Puerto Rico.

They see a deal in the making: the simultaneous admission to the union of Puerto Rico which would likely send Republicans to Congress (why else would Bush back the idea, they ask) and of the District of Columbia, which most certainly would elect Democrats.

"I think it has the makings of a deal," said Washington statehood activist Mark Plotkin, a member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee.

"I'm hopeful," said Walter Fauntroy, a local minister who has represented the district in Congress as a non-voting delegate for 18 years.

"The fundamental objection to admitting the district has been partisan," Fauntroy said. "The Republicans didn't want to add two Democrats to the Senate. But I've known all along that Puerto Rico was viewed as a place where Republicans would get two senators."

That would explain why the Republican platform plugged statehood for Puerto Rico, while the Democrats called for statehood for the district. Bush told a joint session of Congress last week that he personally favors Puerto Rican statehood and proposed a referendum in which the islanders would decide which course they support.

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