Guest editorial: The stealth primary

Now some capital activists are hoping to change that. They have scheduled D.C.'s primary for Jan. 13, six days before the Iowa caucuses and two full weeks before New Hampshire's primary, and this, they insist, makes it the true "first-in-the-nation" test for Democratic presidential candidates.

The Democratic National Committee is very much committed to the status quo and has quietly tried to get the District to drop the plan, but the D.C. primary is starting to pick up a little momentum.

This past week, Al Sharpton filed to get on the ballot, a largely symbolic gesture because the ballot will include all the announced Democrats unless a candidate specifically asks to be left off.

Most of the Democrats have been circumspect about campaigning in Washington, for fear of offending the DNC and the good people of Iowa and New Hampshire. But five of them, all members of Congress, live in the area, so it's hard not to drop in on the occasional rally, ward meeting, fund-raiser, etc.

Washingtonians are the most reliably Democratic voters in the nation. In the last election, Al Gore carried the District 85 percent to 9 percent for George W. Bush; the same margin by which Bill Clinton beat Bob Dole in 1996.

Internally, the politics are more complex. The city is 60 percent black, but one of its most reliable vote-getters is white, Jewish, Republican and a woman. Also, a gay white Republican wins citywide council races against black Democratic regulars.

Being black, Sharpton and Carol Moseley Braun might seem to have an edge, but Howard Dean has the endorsement of nine of the 11 Democrats on the city council. And Dean would probably benefit most from a victory in the District, showing that he can appeal to an urban, largely working-class electorate.

The D.C. primary is a "beauty contest." The results are nonbinding and the actual delegates, like with the Iowa caucuses, will be picked at a later date. And the number of delegates, 10 regulars and 28 super-delegates, is not going to make or break anybody's campaign.

The D.C. primary might fizzle. But it comes at a slow time of year in Washington, already home to a huge press corps, and if it's an interesting race, who knows? Stranger things have happened. Like the Iowa caucuses.