On January 13, 2004, the District of Columbia will conduct its Presidential Primary, making it the first primary for the Democratic candidates to show what they have to offer. Problem is, some of those candidates will not be there when the voting gets started.

U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman and my favorite son of the South, U.S. Sen. John Edwards showed their collective strong pimphand on November 6, when they all pulled out of the DC primary, citing an infringement of Democratic National Committee rules.

Here is the rule: no state can have a primary before New Hampshire. What? New Hampshire? I’m glad the founding fathers did not think like us modern day scholars or else the ratification process for the U.S. Constitution would not have begun until June 21, 1788. But I guess since the first signatures on our governing document were from the Granite State delegation, they may be entitled to their so-called place of reverence in the political process.

However, there is a catch to that rule: the District of Columbia is not a state. There, ladies and gentlemen, is the rub. The whole point of this exercise is to highlight the fact that DC is not recognized as a state; therefore they do not have full representation in the U.S. Congress. Yes, the same U.S. Congress that regulates the operation and appropriates the monies for the district, and that four of the five no-shows serve in.

These gentlemen spend the tax dollars generated by the residents of the district, but they cannot support full enfranchisement for these citizens, whose only voice is the de-fanged, non-voting representation provided by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. If they have never publicly taken a stand on DC statehood before, they just made it by their recent actions. That’s what we call pimping back in the neighborhood.

Let us not forget the other factor that plays into this scenario: race. The district is over 60 percent African-American, according to the U.S. Census, therefore the DC Primary would be considered a bellwether for how blacks may vote in the 2004 election. I, as a political candidate from time to time, would think that was important. Obviously, I do not have a pimp mindset, or else I would have done what these five alleged serious candidates did.

How can one look in the face of a potential black voter and say I’m for what you’re for, but you are unwilling to participate in a primary conducted by African-Americans? Well, when it comes to the black vote, pimping has always been easy for white Democratic candidates, especially in the South and America’s urban areas. They tell you one thing to get the vote, and then their actions take a 180-degree turn on the issues that really matter to us.

That may seem a bit caustic, but the truth hurts. However, I believe the people that are going to hurt from this debacle are those candidates that pulled out. They are going to miss out on an opportunity to shape the issues of the campaign and build a platform that truly would be inclusive. Instead, they did what they always do, duck and cover when things get hot, trying to appease folks that are not going to vote for them anyway.

One DC councilman referred to the dropouts as “losers,” as most dropouts are. But not only are these gentlemen going to lose the presidential election, they are going to lose favor in the African-American community, locally and nationally. Sure, they will hold solid support in their home base in terms of winning an uncontested election, but respect is hard to come by and very easy to lose. Maybe they, and other white Democrats, will remember that in the future.

DC Mayor Anthony Williams said that the massive pullout was “a slap in the face for the city.” Yes, Mayor Williams, it was a classic pimpslap that “Huggie Bear” would be proud of. After January 13, 2004, maybe the DC Primary will show that some African-Americans don’t want to be political whores anymore.

December4, 2003
Issue 67

is published every Thursday.