The Weekly Feed: Experimentation Edition
Morning Roundup: Change Edition
Former Blade Staffers Launch 'DC Agenda'
D.C. Insurance Dept. Denies Birth Control Coverage Meddling
D.C. Unemployment Rate Reaches 11.9 Percent
We understand that there's Washington, and there's D.C. There are plenty of people who live and work in Washington, but not all of them know much about the District.
So we've all been enjoying reading today's article from the Post's David Nakamura, in which he exposed that point through some hilarious interviews with some of D.C.'s Democratic superdelegates. There are 75 at-large superdelegates appointed by DNC Chair Howard Dean; 15 of them live in Washington, so those 15 will be seated with the D.C. delegation. But that's about the end of the similarities they'll share with their co-delegates. Writes Nakamura:
Harold Ickes is the prototypical insider, a career political operative who knows as much about how Washington works as anyone.The article goes on in much the same fashion, with Nakamura nailing one superdelegate after another. One couldn't name the three people the city picked to potentially grace the D.C. quarter, another didn't know who makes up the District's three-person shadow delegation, yet another didn't know who the chair of the D.C. Council is, and one undershot the final stadium price tag by a good $400 million.Just don't ask the former Clinton White House official and Democratic superdelegate what ward he lives in.
"Oh boy," Ickes said recently by phone. "It's either 2 or 7. I live in Georgetown."
Or who represents him on the D.C. Council.
"Don't know."
Or the name of the public schools chancellor.
"I don't know the name, an Asian woman."
Sure, some of these are details that even the hardiest of District residents might not be able to come up with under pressure, but if you're going to live in Washington as a political insider, at least pretend to care about D.C. Tomorrow morning, flip to the Post's Metro section, tune in to WAMU for "The Politics Hour" and "Metro Connection," catch the City Paper's latest Loose Lips column and stop on in to your local ANC's meeting for the freshest in petty zoning squabbles. Oh, and read DCist. Every day. Like just keep your browser on us and hit refresh. A lot.
For you, Harold, just look at a ward map. You're nowhere near Ward 7.
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I think my favorite part of the story was the PR goon for the woman with the American Federation of Teachers who has been a District resident for TWENTY years..."how many more gotcha questions do you have" Really?
You have to be a moron to have lived here for more than a couple of years and not know the answer to most of those questions, but I'd be willing to bet that at least 90% of District residents have no clue who their shadow senator and congressmen are.
I must protest this blatantly misleading headline. The aforementioned article contained absolutely no hot Nakamura-on-Superdelegate action.
This is the worst bait-and-switch article title since "SCOTUS Bangs Gavel in Second Amendment Briefs."
Every time I see "ANC," I think "African National Congress."
I've got to agree with HCE on the shadow thing. I mean, frankly, I don't know what the District's "state" bird is either*, but I fail to see how that's less significant than who my shadow senators are.
*Look it up yourself.
While I don't disagree that most folks probably don't know their shadow representatives, the bigger point is that the superdelegates should know this stuff....
Why should superdelegates know this stuff? They're not going to Denver to nominate the democratic candidate for DC dog catcher nor are they appointed to represent DC's interests. The better point seems to be that the party probably shouldn't sit the superdelegates with the local delegates. At the end of the day, though, the whole thing seems silly.
Agreed, adamsmorgan. I also like the fact that Nakamura included it in the story. Take that, flack!
@cactus_jack: because they live in the District, work in the District, and presumably are working for or are heavily involved in electing the people who claim to have political power over the District (i.e. congrescritters and other capitol furries)...
The real "gotcha" would be to see how many of them are not legal residents of DC, and yet they receive homestead exemptions. Tom Daschle, call your office.
Still, I lived on Capitol Hill for ten years and didn't know which ANC I lived in, until we had a pending case at BZA.
I can understand not know what ANC you live in (very few people actually ever deal with their ANC), or who the shadow guys are (very few people know what they do in the shadows). But for Ickes to not know what ward he lives in? That's lame. And for the supers to not know who the council chairperson is? Also lame.