Plugged In Nationally, Tuned Out Of the District
21st August 2008
Harold Ickes is the prototypical insider, a career political operative who knows as much about how Washington works as anyone.
Just don’t ask the former Clinton White House official and Democratic superdelegate what ward he lives in.
The presence of these high-profile figures simultaneously excites and frustrates the local delegation, made up of city officials and activists, including Evans, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and D.C. Democratic Party Chairman Anita Bonds. As it does every four years, the D.C. delegation will use the convention to renew a public push for congressional voting rights. But even though the big shots command media attention and enjoy outsize influence that could help the District’s cause, most aren’t planning to spend much time with the locals or join them at a voting rights rally at Denver’s U.S. Mint.