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Race For The Presidency
Winning the 2008 Nomination
By Rhodes Cook |
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The District of Columbia Rules
The District of Columbia may not be close to achieving statehood, but it is basically treated as a state by the Democrats, who award it a harvest of pledged delegates similar to that given to a state of its size. Add in a sizable lode of superdelegates, and the District will have more Democratic delegates in 2008 than over a dozen states.
Participation in the primary voting is limited to registered voters in that party. As of September 2006, there were 387,940 registered voters in the nation's capital—285,486 Democrats, 30,560 Republicans, and 71,894 independent and third-party voters.
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DEMOCRATS |
REPUBLICANS |
| THE CALENDAR |
Primary Date
(polling hours) |
Feb. 12
(7 a.m.-8 p.m.) |
Feb. 12
(7 a.m.-8 p.m.) |
| Filing Deadline
| Dec. 14, 2007 |
Dec. 14, 2007 |
| Filing Procedure |
D.C. election law calls for Democratic candidates to submit petitions signed by 1,000 registered Democratic voters to the D.C. elections board; Republican candidates are required to submit the signatures of 300 registered Republicans. Both parties, though, may devise filing procedures of their own. Democrats give candidates the option of paying a $2,500 filing fee to the D.C. party by Jan. 2 or submitting petitions signed by at least 1,000 registered Democrats. |
| THE DELEGATES |
| Number (% of national total) |
38 (0.9%) |
19 (0.8%) |
| Distribution: |
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By district |
10 (5 per district) |
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At-Large |
3 |
16 |
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Pledged PEOs |
2 |
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RNC members |
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3 |
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Superdelegates |
23 |
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| Method of Allocation |
Proportional—15% of vote needed to win a share of citywide or district delegates. For delegate-selection purposes, Democrats divide the city into two districts. |
Winner-take-all—citywide winner takes all the at-large delegates. |
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