D.C. Voting Rights: An Easy Test for Democrats

One of the early tests for the new Democratic House and Senate should be easy to meet after I introduce the House vote for D.C. next week.  The Democratic platform calls for more – for two Senate seats, as well, but the taxpaying citizens of the District have agreed to accept this down payment on our full recognition as American citizens.

My good Republican colleague, Tom Davis, got us further than some anticipated, but in the end, the Republican Congress punted.  No one believes that the Democrats will fail us after decades of platforms, pleas, and platitudes decrying this failure of our democracy.

The District’s energetic, new Mayor, Adrian Fenty; the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; DC Vote; and other local and national civil rights activists are planning a March and Lobby Day for the D.C. Vote from the District’s city hall, the Wilson Building, down Pennsylvania Avenue to the House in February.  The march, I believe, reflects the pent up energy of many who had wanted the vote in January, which had to be devoted to the Democratic agenda and the State of the Union.  After 200 years of waiting, however, one more month without the vote won’t kill us.  February will do.