It’s beginning to look like Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia made a wise choice when they scheduled their primaries for the week after Super Tuesday:
The Washington region’s history in presidential primary politics is found mainly in the footnotes.
It was 1988 before Virginia departed from its tradition of caucuses and mass meetings to hold primaries. Maryland might be best known as a state that Democrat George Wallace won in 1972 after he was shot at a Laurel shopping center by Arthur Bremer.
District Democrats, looking to call attention to the city’s lack of congressional representation, held their 2004 primary in mid-January, ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire. But the results were nonbinding, and few of the top candidates were on the ballot.
This year, for the first time, the District, Maryland and Virginia hope to accomplish collectively what they have been unable to separately: become players in the selection of Democratic and Republican nominees. On Feb. 12, 1.5 million to 2 million voters could turn out to award 358 delegates (239 Democratic and 119 Republican) to candidates in what amounts to the Potomac Primary.
“Voters in these jurisdictions are going to have a chance to be very influential in terms of delegates,” said Terry Lierman, former chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party. “The road to the White House runs through the mid-Atlantic primary.”
At this point, it’s a certainly that neither nomination fight will be over when attention is turned to the Washington, D.C. region starting on February 6th, and I expect that we’re all going to be bombarded with campaign commercials, appearances, and those annoying road signs.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
No, I am sorry, this time it will not matter. The state of Virginia has gone so far to the left that their is one (1) uno Republican sitting on the board in Charlottesville. It probably is that way throughout the state. Of course McCain would be ahead in VA- he is as much a liberal as what I had considered the other party at one time. VA has become little NY and NJ. The low tax rates, small government and wonderful lifestyle have attracted the northeasterners, and they brought their liberal ideas and politicians with them, and those low tax rates are no more.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Doug: I didn’t mean to offend you by referring to the northeasterners as all liberals. I grew up in Penna. and lived in NJ for 25 years before moving south more than 10 years ago.