Dean Wins in D.C., the 1st-in-the-Nation Democratic Primary

Howard Dean won the first-in-the-nation Democratic primary held here Tuesday, while D.C. voting rights activists appeared to have succeeded in getting the word out about the lack of full voting rights for the District's more than half a million residents.

t the same time, Sen. Kenneth McClintock, NPP-at large, saw the developments in the nation's capital as relevant to Puerto Rico. "Every time you draw attention to the D.C. voting rights problem, attention is drawn to our voting problems," said the senator, who is island Democratic Party national committeeman.

The D.C. Democratic Party set the early primary mainly as a way to call for voting representation in Congress. Its delegate in the House lacks the vote, as does the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico and delegates from the U.S. territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa.

Former Vermont governor and Democratic presidential frontrunner Dean won the non-binding primary with 43 percent of the vote. The Rev. Al Sharpton garnered 34 percent of the vote in a strong showing after campaigning heavily in this majority African-American city. Carol Moseley Braun got 12 percent and Dennis Kucinich 8 percent.

About 16 percent of the District's 257,000 registered Democrats took part in the primary, about twice as many as normally have voted here in earlier primaries. About 8 percent of registered Democrats will vote in the Iowa caucuses, scheduled for Monday. Apparently bowing to pressure from the Democratic National Committee, which wants to keep the party's first candidate selection in Iowa and New Hampshire, Dean's main challengers - retired Gen. Wesley Clark, Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and John Edwards of North Carolina, and Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt - withdrew from Tuesday's ballot.

The primary was more a beauty contest, since the delegates to the national convention will be elected in caucuses in February and March. There were no provisions for write-in candidates. Nevertheless, the vote did seem to succeed in getting attention to what voting advocates here call "America's only remaining colony," a claim often made for Puerto Rico.

The media widely covered the event, national as well as foreign, the latter which often enjoys pointing out perceived U.S. hypocrisy, in this case the U.S. denying full democratic rights to its own citizens while calling for those same rights around the world.

McClintock noted that he met recently in his office with Paul Strauss, a shadow senator for the D.C. statehood movement. "You could say that this was the first time that leading advocates of statehood [for Washington and Puerto Rico] met to compare notes," McClintock said.

D.C. voter advocates see the possibility of three ways for its delegate to get the vote in the full House: through statehood, a constitutional amendment or by federal statute. McClintock noted it would be "easiest" for the island to get full voting representation in Congress through statehood, but he did not discard the island considering the possibility of getting a vote for the resident commissioner by law.

One congressman, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., is mulling whether to propose such a law for the D.C. delegate. "I believe in incremental solutions," McClintock said. "We could use that vote for the statehood cause."

Meanwhile, local Democratic Party chief Sen. Roberto Prats, the Popular Democratic Party's resident commissioner candidate, expressed confidence that he and McClintock could reach accords to bring a united Puerto Rico delegation to the Democratic Convention in Boston. The two options - an island-wide primary to choose delegates or agreements on the delegation's make-up - "are always there," Prats said.

Next month island Democrats are slated to approve a reorganization plan for the party in Puerto Rico, Prats said. Puerto Rico will have 58 delegates at the Democratic National Convention this year, more than 27 other U.S. jurisdictions, Prats said.

Staff writer Xavira Neggers Crescioni contributed to this report.

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