DC Statehood Being Debated on C-SPAN NOW (10am EST)

[DemBones DemBones]

Only CMB, Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton have shown up for this one, though there are eleven on the DC ballot .

The DC Primary will be January 13 -- first primary of all. In fact, delegates won't be bound by the primary votes because the primary is being held outside the Democratic schedule. They're having it early despite this glitch in order to call attention to the cause of statehood for DC.

Sharpton just took a swipe at all the candidates not present at this debate. This does look bad for the others and the party as a whole since the District has a predominantly African-American population.

Edit: Not being a state, DC elects no senators or congressmen to represent its citizens. They get no tax revenues from all the federal properties in the District. CMB now speaking about this.

[eileen from OH]

1. Um, considering the number of debates

ol' Al has missed, I hardly think he should "go there."

Don't remember the others taking swipes at him about it.

Which reminds me - I know why Clark missed the NPR debate, but why did Al miss that one?

eileen from OH

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Sorry, but only three candidates showed up --

and two of them are African-American -- in what, if it becomes a state, will be our only state with a majority African-American population. This looks very bad for all the others. Most of the debates have been missing one or two candidates but this one is missing Clark, Dean, Edwards, Gephardt, and Kerry. Shame on all of them. This is a presidential debate and the others have their names on the ballot for D.C.'s primary so why aren't they here?

[DemBones DemBones]

3. According to what CMB just said, the

Jan. 13 election is about the statehood question and there will be another election on Feb. 13 that will choose delegates who actually go to the convention. Piecing together all that's been said, I think D.C. voters will choose a presidential candidate, thus electing delegates, on Jan.13, but only the ones elected (or re-elected) on Feb. 13 will be "real" delegates. The January 13 election is intended to focus attention on the statehood question.

Kucinich made a good statement about the climate of fear that's being fostered today.

There's an empty chair for Dean, who had said he'd be here. Sharpton just asked why he wasn't here, especially in light of all the endorsements he's gotten from people working in the District (in Congress.) It is shameful for ALL the others who aren't here.

In his closing statement, Al Sharpton compared the country's treatment of the District to Strom Thurmond's treatment of his half-black daughter. Nice analogy.

Dennis Kucinich spoke about living and working in the District, serving on the House committee that has oversight of the District, and being an advocate for DC statehood. He also talked about being an advocate for cities and improving the lives of people, many African-American and other minorities, in cities, with measures such as a living wage. He tied this all back to his core belief that we must get our troops out of Iraq in order to be able to do the things we should do for our people, easily reeling off some crucial financial figures.

Carol Moseley-Braun spoke about history -- woman and blacks not having the vote for so many years, her belief that it's time to have a woman in the Oval Office, etc. Her statement was cut short because they had to go to a weather/traffic bulletin (this was being broadcast on radio in DC and there were several interruptions like this.)

The three candidates dealt with those interruptions, plus a disruption by two loud Larouche supporters, with grace. They seemed very comfortable together, agreed with each other on most issues, included each other in answers, joked a bit. It was good to see the three most progressive candidates (and my three favorites!) together without all the others.

Imagine a progressive world, with everyone agreeing that universal health care is a good thing, that peace is better than war, that equality is essential, that everyone should be able to make a decent living.

"You may say I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one." :hippie:

[ThirdWheelLegend]

4. the 3 best candidates on one stage!

Howard has an empty seat. Fitting for empty rhetoric. :)

TWL