Woodhouse also ripped McCain, who sought to postpone tomorrow night's first debate, that the President of the United States must be able to "walk and chew gum at the same time."

The nation’s founders staked everything on creating a country where there would be “no taxation without representation” anywhere in America. In that tradition, Democrats proudly support the vote in Congress for the 600,000 citizens of our nation’s capital. The District of Columbia is not yet the 51st state, but no one can doubt that the revolutionaries who invented America’s most quoted national slogan did not create a new nation to get the vote, only to turn around and deny the vote to the citizens of their own capital.

Forty-five years ago this week, Martin Luther King Jr. inspired us to act on the principle that all Americans must have equal rights. Democrats will finish King’s unfinished business for equal voting rights for the citizens of our capital. King’s vision that change is best achieved when wrapped in unchanging principles is the hallmark of Democrats—from Martin Luther King Jr. to the next President of the United States, Barack Obama.

The first residents of the District volunteered at the battles of Lexington and Concord on the promise of the vote. Democrats will keep that promise as, yet again, D.C. residents risk their lives in battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will keep the promise made to the unknown soldier who was the first to die from the District in the war against taxation without representation, and we will keep that promise for 21-year-old D.C. National Guard Specialist Darryl Dent, the first D.C. resident to die for his country in Iraq.

The new Democratic Congress already has swiftly led the change to resolve the nation’s oldest unresolved human rights issue. We thank the Democratic House of Representatives for passing the D.C. Voting Rights Act. The Senate came within three votes.

Tonight, we challenge the Senate, especially the Republicans, to match the House this session and pass that bill. Then, have no doubt, if George Bush won’t sign the D.C. Voting Rights Act, its most prominent co-sponsor, our next president, Barack Obama, will.

A bill that would have given District of Columbia residents their first-ever member of Congress died in the Senate on Tuesday, dashing hopes of full voting rights in the nation's capital after a 206-year wait.

Senators voted 57-42, just three votes short of the 60 needed to move the measure forward. The bill would have created two new House seats: One for the city of about 600,000 people and one for Utah, which narrowly missed out on a fourth seat after the last census.

The procedural vote, against moving on with the debate, effectively killed the best chance in decades to win the District a full-fledged House member. The city has been denied voting rights in Congress since 1801, making it the only major capital city in the world where citizens are denied a vote in the nation's representative body of government.

State parties will publish their delegate selection rules and clearly explain how to participate in the summer of 2007.

DC Democratic Party
1341 G Street, N.W., Suite 720
Washington, DC 20005
202-737-3367

District-Level Delegates: 10
At-Large Delegates: 3
Pledged Party Leader & Elected Official (PLEO) Delegates: 2
Unpledged Delegates: 23
TOTAL Number of Delegates: 38

Alternates: 4

TOTAL DELEGATION SIZE: 42

System type: Primary

District convention page: Plan Available
District plan: Not available online. Please contact the DC Democratic Party to receive a copy.
District filing form: Not available online. Please contact the DC Democratic Party to receive a copy.

** This information is prepared by the DNC's Office of Party Affairs and Delegate Selection and may be subject to change. For more information, please call 202-863-8000.

How desperate is this man to gain a few approval points (with his Base abandoning him over immigration and Iraq)? The appropriate bill for the District of Columbia faces Dear Leader's pen because it contains a measure that supports a domestic partner registry that allows basic rights married couples take for granted.

Here's more on the legislation and the veto threat from the Human Rights Campaign.

(DC residents are the only Americans that pay federal income taxes without full voting representation in Congress.)

Of course, I'm proud that my new congresswoman, once I register to vote in the area, is the honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton, the only member able to consistently stand toe-to-toe with Stephen Colbert and get some shots in of her own. Nevertheless, the mere "notion" that many of our citizens don't receive proper representation in Congress finally hit home.

About two weeks ago, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing to discuss a bill to discuss the efforts to recognize the voting rights of DC residents. The House has already passed it. Let's see if we can get this done.

Here's the official statement from Governor Dean and Donna Brazile, DNC Voting Rights Institute Chair:

“Today’s passage of DC voting rights is a great victory for our fellow Americans in the District of Columbia and for American democracy. This long overdue legislation will bring District residents one step closer to having a full vote in the House of Representatives and equal rights under the law. District of Columbia residents are the only Americans who pay taxes and serve proudly in our nation’s armed forces but are not allowed full voting representation in Congress. We call on the Senate to expediently take up this legislation. We also urge President Bush to ignore misguided advice from White House advisors and to sign this legislation into law."

This is an issue we Democrats have been trying to remedy for decades. Yet, yesterday, Republicans in the House of Representatives thwarted our attempt to establish a voting Congressional seat for the District of Columbia.

Instead of passing a simple, direct bill that would give voting rights to the more than 580,000 tax-paying Americans living in D.C., Republicans stalled the bill by attaching a completely unrelated amendment to loosen the District’s gun restriction laws.

The Washington Post reports:

“Legislation to give the District of Columbia a full vote in the U.S. House stalled Thursday when Republicans unexpectedly injected the volatile issue of gun control… [These] developments marked an abrupt turn on legislation that would give district residents voting rights in the House for the first time in more than two centuries.”

The Republicans’ ploy comes on the heels of President Bush’s threat to veto the bill on the grounds that, under the Constitution, only states can be granted representation. Yet, according to Article I, Section VIII, Congress has the power:

“To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States.”

Under the Constitution, Congress has exclusive legal authority over the District of Columbia— therefore, it is fully within their power to grant D.C. full voting rights.

For over 200 years, D.C. residents have been denied a right we Americans hold dear: the right to full Congressional representation. For over two centuries, the residents of D.C. have been singled out as second-class citizens, denied one of the most fundamental tenants of democracy.

The Democratic Congress — working in close partnership with Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton — has worked hard to craft bipartisan legislation to let D.C. residents participate in our great democracy. Yet, once again, the Republican Party has disregarded the Constitution and stood in the way of fundamental American rights.

Isn’t it about time we put partisan posturing aside and finally relegate the concept of “Taxation Without Representation” to the dustbin of history?

Damien Shirley is a student at George Washington University and an intern for The Democratic Party.

Submitted by:
Donna Brazile, At-Large/DC
Anita Bonds, Chair/District of Columbia
Marilyn Tyler Brown, District of Columbia
Arrington Dixon, District of Columbia
Ben Johnson, At-Large/DC
Lottis Shackelford, DNC Vice Chair/Arkansas
Mike Honda, DNC Vice Chair/California
Susan W. Turnbull, DNC Vice Chair/Maryland
Renee’ Gill Pratt, Louisiana
Ben Jeffers, At-Large/Louisiana
Terry Lierman, Chair, Maryland
James Metcalfe, Chair, Alaska
Christine Pelosi, California
John Perez, California
Mirian Saez, At-Large/California
James Zogby, At-Large/DC

Resolution in Support of the District of Columbia Fair and Equal Voting Rights Act

WHEREAS, the principle that U. S. citizens have the inalienable right to shape the laws under which they live is a cornerstone of our democracy, but citizens of the District of Columbia do not have voting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate; and

WHEREAS, residents of the District of Columbia pay the second highest per capita federal income taxes in the nation and have sent nearly two hundred thousand sons and daughters to war, yet they have no say with respect to federal tax legislation or military spending and are the only residents of a national capital in any democracy in the world without full voting rights; and

WHEREAS, when the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1789, it contemplated that the right to vote would be enjoyed “by people of the several states,” at a time when all U.S. citizens lived in a state, and it was not until 1801, when the District of Columbia was created out of lands ceded by Maryland and Virginia pursuant to statute adopted in 1791, that D.C. residents lost their federal voting rights; and

WHEREAS, it is an abomination that citizens of the District of Columbia have been denied a full vote in the Congress and thereby effectively disenfranchised since 1801; and

WHEREAS, there is no reason to believe that the framers of the U.S. Constitution intended for District residents to be deprived of full voting rights and there is no rational nor legitimate reason that citizens residing in U.S. capital should be deprived of full representation in Congress; and

WHEREAS, the D.C. Fair and Equal Voting Rights Act, introduced as H.R. 5388 in the 109th Congress, and will be reintroduced early in the 110th Congress, is bipartisan legislation that would extend to D.C. residents full voting rights in the House of Representatives; and

WHEREAS, the D.C. Fair and Equal Voting Rights Act is foundational legislation which will pave the way for future laws that will enable residents of the District of Columbia to enjoy full and equal rights currently enjoyed by other Americans;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that the Democratic National Committee fully supports the passage of the D.C. Fair and Equal Voting Rights Act and pledges to join House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and other members of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in seeking quick passage of this historic legislation during the 110th Congress.

That hasn't discouraged the NY Times from writing an article about the situation.

So, laugh it up:

"I once had to pick up a mouse by the tail that Durbin refused to pick up," complained Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, referring to his roommate Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois.

This characterization is not fair to Mr. Durbin, interjected another tenant in the Capitol Hill row house, Representative Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts. For starters, it overlooks Mr. Durbin’s gift for killing rats. "He will kill them with his bare hands," Mr. Delahunt marveled.

The biggest news out of this article: Senator Chuck Schumer doesn't make his bed. For political news, read all about the first 100 hours of the House of Representatives under Democratic leadership.

"For far too long, residents of the District of Columbia have been denied full voting rights in Congress. The Democratic National Committee is on record supporting full voting rights for District residents, believing that change is long overdue. Residents of our nation's capital share responsibilities in their government, pay federal taxes, and serve honorably in our nation's military and should have an equal voice in America's strong democratic process. Republicans should withdraw their opposition."

"For far too long, residents of the District of Columbia have been denied full voting rights in Congress. The Democratic National Committee is on record supporting full voting rights for District residents, believing that change is long overdue. Residents of our nation's capital share responsibilities in their government, pay federal taxes, and serve honorably in our nation's military and should have an equal voice in America's strong democratic process. Republicans should withdraw their opposition."

This was an event for the grandfather who contributes $20 a month, the student who decided to skip a few trips to Starbucks and donate $15 dollars each month, or the mom who donates $30 every month because she wants a better future for her children . Each person has a different reason for purchasing their Democracy Bond, - but we also all have something in common - a committment to change America.

Governor Dean spoke to the crowd for about 15 minutes about the 50-State Strategy and the Democracy Bonds program. He closed his remarks by saying:

It isn't the Democratic party you're supporting when you buy Democracy Bonds, it's America, and our vision of America. The Democratic Party is important, but I didn't take this job because I love the Democratic Party, I took this job because I love America and I want it back.