Candidates Tiptoe Into D.C. Primary

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No one was quite sure what to expect when D.C. Democratic Party representatives maneuvered to gain national attention for the city's push for statehood, voting rights and representation in Congress by moving the District's primary ahead of Iowa's Jan. 19 caucuses and New Hampshire's Jan. 27 primary. Was it a serious proposal? A stunt? More important: Would it matter who won?

Now, with just over four months to go, most candidates, while stressing the importance of campaigning in the District, appear uncertain just how much effort to put into their D.C. campaigns. Their schedules are packed with appearances in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"I think it's going to keep building, but you'd always like to see more participation," said Sean Tenner, executive director of the D.C. Democracy Fund, a D.C. voting rights group. "A lot of people in the media and the conventional wisdom says that Iowa and New Hampshire are first. It takes awhile for people to accept a new reality."

D.C. political activists acknowledge that the move was a desperate stunt to force the issue of D.C. representation onto the national agenda. And although the primary is nonbinding -- a requirement because Democratic National Committee rules prohibit placing a primary before Iowa's and New Hampshire's -- D.C. activists said they expect presidential delegates to support the winner.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5326-2003Aug30.html