George,

I think the African-American voters in D.C. are overreacting. I don't think it reasonable that the Democratic presidential candidates would withdraw due to racial issues; it makes absolutely no sense. It's probably just part of their strategy to win the Domocratic nomination by skipping the early primaries. The D.C. primary just happens to be first. And as for broken promises - they happen all the time in politics.

There's no reason to stir up a fuss or be paranoid. I don't see a point in crying "foul" every time something slightly unusual happens and a minority group happens to be involved (it's statistically possible for something unusual to happen to a minority group - ask any statistician).

But I should also add that I have always believed it unfair for D.C. residents to be taxed by the federal government without representation in Congress. Isn't that one of the reasons why we fought the Revolutionary War to begin with? However, given that (a) D.C. representative(s) would most likely be Democratic, it wouldn't make sense for a Republican-controlled government to create such representation.

Joseph Cheek (electronic mail, November 20, 2003)