I just got back into town after being at YearlyKos the latter half of last week. We (Danny Rose from DC Vote, Martin Austermuhle from DCist, and Keshini Luddewhetty from DC for Democracy, and myself) had a great session on DC Voting Rights and Martin even live blogged it in case you couldn’t make it.

I talked to anyone and everyone who would listen about the need to pass the DC Voting Rights Act so that we could end our colonial status in our our own country. I even told Howard Dean that, although I liked his 50-state strategy..I was more interested in a 51 state strategy. He laughed and said he’s been working to get the DC Voting Rights Act passed. I said it’s a good first step

Did you know that the Olympics start in one year?? Do you know what we are going to do if this bill doesn’t pass? That’s right…fire up the ‘ole DC Olympic Team. What should be our summer sport?

I’ve been beating up on some House Republicans the last few days after the delay in passing the DC Voting Rights Act in the House. I would like to take this opportunity to point out for the record that not all members the GOP are plotting to deny DC the vote, and in fact some are actively fighting for us.

The first good-guy is Jack Kemp. This former Congressman, cabinet secretary, and vice-presidential candidate has been a steadfast supporter of DC voting rights. He recently published an article on TownHall.com entitled “Shortsighted House GOP would deny D.C. residents the vote“. In this article he states:

The Republicans in the House, as well as advisers to the president - by threatening a veto - are in danger not only of indifference to district citizens, but in fact they’re showing disdain for a city predominantly governed and populated by people of color. This can be interpreted as racially insensitive at best and racially prejudiced at worst. Either way, it’s really dumb politics because the party of Lincoln, Douglass, Grant, Eisenhower and Bush 41, among others, is sacrificing its civil rights soul for a mess of political pottage.

Jack Kemp is a respected leader in the conservative movement, so I hope these words will change some minds.

I also wanted to point out the the DC Republican Party has been out front on this bill and is working the issue with members of their own party in Congress. Here is a section of a press release they recently put out:

“We are going to fight for voting rights, because we are the party of Abraham Lincoln,” said Robert Kabel, Chairman of the D.C. Republican Party. “This is a bill written by a Republican Congressman, and it is the bi-partisan solution to a historic injustice. The American citizens of the District of Columbia pay their taxes, fight for their country and deserve equal rights.”

You can read the full press release here.

And lastly, I have to once again give a shout-out to Indiana Congressman Mike Pence for supporting this bill in committee. He didn’t have to that, there was really nothing in it for him, and it took guts to break ranks with his party to cast that vote.

If only there were more Republicans who embraced the whole “party of Lincoln” idea as more than a talking point…