I haven't seen much coverage of this issue either here on Daily Kos or elsewhere, but as we watch the returns trickle in from close races in California, Washington or Minnesota, it occurs to me that, as soon as the new Congress convenes, there is a way to add another reliable Democratic vote in the House: enact voting rights for the nation's capital! And it's not just good politics, it's good policy, and the right thing to do for over half a million citizens.
I lived for several years in Maryland, and I was always amazed at how my friends just over the border had no voting representatives in Congress. They proudly displayed license plates on their cars with the slogan, "Taxation Without Representation"!
Washington DC, home to nearly 600,000 residents (more than Wyoming!) has no Senators or Representatives in Congress but may vote for electors in the Presidential election. For many years, DC has had a non-voting "delegate" in the House, the former civil rights lawyer Eleanor Holmes Norton. She has to suffer the regular humiliation of helping craft legislation relating to her constituents but be prevented from voting on it. (See this recent Washington Post article on Norton)
Securing voting rights in the House has been promoted by Democrats for several years. Aside from matters of principle, since DC votes overwhelmingly Democratic, this would ensure a reliable extra vote in the House for the Democratic caucus. The proposal is to admit voting representatives of DC to the Congress by legislation, without requiring an amendment to the US Constitution or admission of DC as a new state. Most observers believe that such action would survive constitutional legal challenge. (Some DC residents also advocate full statehood, but this is a less popular and less likely option.) In 2003 and 2007, bills were introduced to (respectively) grant full Senate and House membership to DC, and to grant only a House member. The 2007 bill (HR 1433) was "balanced" politically by a provision to add one more House member to the Utah delegation (on the reasoning that so many young Mormons go abroad as missionaries that it artificially depresses the census count in that state.) This bill passed in the House but was filibustered by Republicans in the Senate. President Bush, of course, was against it.
I think that revival and passage of this bill should be the first priority for the new Congress and the new President. And they should do it without the Utah provision. The GOP had its chance to get an extra House and Electoral College vote for Utah, but they decided to screw the people of DC instead, and now they should pay for it.
For more info, see the Wikipedia article on DC voting rights, or the advocacy group DCVote. Here is an article suggesting the likelihood of action in the new administration.
By the way, it ought to be noted in his favor that Joe Lieberman was the Senate sponsor of both of the recent DC voting rights bills.
What does the Daily Kos community think about this?