D.C. Primary Tomorrow; Practice Your Voting Technique
Let's face it -- a local election in an off year and in the midst of a heated presidential campaign won't attract much attention, much less lots of voters. And tomorrow's District primary likely isn't much of an exception.
While in 2006 the mayoral battle between Linda Cropp and Adrian Fenty and the contest for the chairmanship of the D.C. Council gave that year's electoral season a certain buzz, tomorrow's choices haven't provoked the same intensity. But amidst the lower key contests -- which include the council seats for wards 2, 4, 7, 8 and two At-Large; two out of three slots on the shadow delegation; the sole delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives; and the Democratic State Committee -- there are a few battles that may have gotten more attention had they coincided with a livelier local election year in the District.
Patrick Mara vs. Carol Schwartz: Mara, something of a political novice, is aiming to unseat one of the District's longest-serving political figures. In the surprise of this year's election season, a heated battle has emerged in this At-large Republican primary, with Mara picking up the support of some major players in the business community, raking in donations and otherwise hammering at Schwartz for not being Republican enough. (He has derisively referred to her as a "Republicat.") Schwartz, who was late to the game in announcing her intention to run and even later in actually starting to run, has fallen back on her ability to survive a number of challenges in her years in District politics. Will she survive this one? Maybe, but only barely. While the City Paper's Loose Lips and the Post's Metro columnist Marc Fisher have thrown their weight behind her, the Post's editorial page came out against her in an editorial in which they called her "unrelentingly negative." Ouch.
Cary Silverman vs. Jack Evans: Evans is the very kind of of council member who plenty of people love to hate -- a lobbyist with a powerhouse D.C. firm, unabashedly close to business interests, the main guy responsible for the $700 million the city has spent bringing baseball back. Then again, he represents one of the wards where that type of stuff is par for the course. Silverman has chided Evans for not being a full-time representative for Ward 2 and tossed around somewhat vague allegations that Evans doesn't care about neighborhood issues. Beyond that, he hasn't got much on the Council's longest-serving member. The Post and the City Paper both like Evans, and we're guessing so too will the voters of his ward.
Phil Pannell vs. Paul Strauss: Wait, there's really a battle for an unpaid job that has virtually no perks (well, expect for meeting Hayden Panetierre) and even less by way of real power? Yep. Strauss, one of the District's two shadow senators, is fending off an able challenger in Ward 8 activist Phil Pannell. Is Strauss, who has occupied the non-office since 1996, likely to be unseated? Probably not. But that's not to say that a little, errr, diversity in the shadow delegation wouldn't be a good thing.
Marion Barry vs. The World: It's safe to say that not even Pope Benedict XI and his red hot shoes couldn't run Barry out of District politics. But a few contenders are trying, including Sandra Seegars and Charles Wilson (who was favored by the Post and City Paper). Best of luck to them, and best of luck to the city -- like a new anti-Barry blog says, "Because there comes a time when enough is enough."
Norton Vs. No One: Eleanor Holmes Norton won't yield to any of her 434 colleagues in the House of Representatives when it comes to voting rights, nor will she be facing any competition this year. Maybe if we ever get a real voting seat in the House we'll have something approaching a contest.
Polls are open on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. All the information you need to find your precinct is at the newly-redesigned website for the Board of Elections and Ethics. Go vote.