Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Democracy at work: DC gets a voice, for a change

By Nancy Jane Moore

I am pleased to note that my former home, Washington, D.C., got to play a significant role in the presidential selection race. Along with neighboring Maryland and Virginia, it pushed Sen. Obama ahead in the delegate count.

There are many interesting things about the Potomac Primary. Obama's support seems to be getting broader and broader. The District has a majority black population and Mayor Adrian Fenty (who's pretty popular right now despite the fact that he's closing schools) endorsed Obama, so his win there is not a surprise, but apparently he got substantial chunks of white vote in Virginia and Maryland, including a significant percentage from women.

And the turnout was heavily Democratic -- no surprise in Maryland and the District, which are reliable blue states, but more impressive in Virginia, where almost twice as many people voted in the Democratic Primary. They can't all have been Republicans trying to select the weaker candidate!

But as a former resident of the District, the thing that makes me happiest is that the real Washington -- the city, not the Nation's Capital -- had a hand in the process. In a place where "no taxation without representation" still means far too much, it's nice to have a vote count every once in awhile.

And now it looks like my new home of Texas may end up deciding the actual Democratic nominee. Stay tuned.

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