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?

Earlier today the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs voted to send the DC Voting Rights Act to the full Senate. In addition to the Democrats on the Committee, GOP Senators Collins (ME), Coleman (MN), and Voinovich (OH) voted yes on the bill. It was unfortunate that our neighbor, Senator Warner of Virginia, chose not to listen to his House colleague, Representative Tom Davis, and voted against giving the District a vote.

I really liked what Senator Norm Coleman had to say. He spoke about his experiences as an urban mayor, and how things in his city were really affected by what the federal government did. He also said it was time to end the “paternal” relationship Congress has over the district, as it was not fair and just wrong. It’s nice to see a member of Congress draw from his or her own experiences and do what they think is right – that doesn’t happen as often as it should. I also have to give thanks to Senator Lieberman for leading this bill through the Senate and working to get today’s bi-partisan vote.

Today was a great day for DC voting rights, but there is still work to be done. The full Senate will vote on this bill later this summer and we still need to convince a few Senators that the time to give DC a vote is now! Please remember to tell your friends, family, and co-workers about FreeAndEqualDC.com – it only takes a few minutes.

Yesterday there was a hearing in Lieberman’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. For anyone who follows this stuff, it was your standard fare. A lot of the same testimony from the same people.

I really liked Norton’s testimony. This is woman was definately not going through the motions. She even brought up the Colbert Report’s joke about her and Tom Davis having an affair. (Here’s the clip from the show.) Jack Kemp was awesome yesterday, and I think he will play a key role in getting the fence sitting Republicans to side with the bill.

I wanted to hear how GOP Senators Collins, Warner, and Coleman were going come down on the bill, but alas that did not happen. I was especially curious about Collins as Lieberman endorsed her and is raising money for her - much to the chagrin of the blogosphere.

Liberman says they’ll be a mark-up sometime after Memorial Day recess. Stay tuned…

(Note: Metroblogging DC is having a contest for a caption for the photo above. More details here.)

The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will be holding a hearing on the DC Voting Rights Act on Tuesday May 15th.  The hearing starts at 10:00 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 342. More information can be found here.

Senator Lieberman, a friend of the District as well as the primary Senate sponsor, will be chairing the hearing.  It should be interesting as we’ll see the level of support the bill has. On the Democrat’s side we have people like Lieberman, Obama, and Landrieu who are co-sponsors. Senator Tester is supportive (or at least that is what he told me when I talked to him at a YearlyKos fundraiser). The other Dems on the committee should line up in support of this bill…so hopefully that will not be a problem.

On the Republican side, there are guys like Senators Stevens and Pete Domineci who will never support this bill . What will be key is to see where moderate GOP Senators Collins, Warner, and Coleman come down on the bill. Also, Trent Lott has told people like Jack Kemp that he’s a supporter…we’ll see at the hearing how much that’s actually true. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Lott could mend a lot of fences if he were to take a leadership role on this bill.

I’m planning on being at the hearing. Hope to see you there.

After clearing the House two weeks ago by a vote of 244 to 177, the DC Voting Rights Act will be introduced in the Senate today by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT). The fact that Senator Hatch is on board as a co-sponsor is great news, as he always was a bit of an unknown and could have single-handedly killed the bill in the Senate.

To keep the momentum going, we need to make sure that Senators here in Washington are hearing from their constituents back home about DC voting rights. The web site FreeAndEqualDC.com has been updated to now send messages in support of this bill to the U.S. Senate. If you have not yet done so, please take a minute a send a message to your friends, family, and co-workers urging them to take action at: http://www.freeandequaldc.com

It’s great that things are moving forward and I’ll be in touch soon with more ways on how you can help get this through the Senate. Remember, there are now less than 100 people standing in the way of DC voting rights - together we can make it happen!

Also, The Hill published my letter:

http://thehill.com/letters/d.c.-voting-rights-bill-isnt-willful-constitution-breach-2007-04-30.html