What It's Like to Live in a One-Party State

I'm listening to WAMU, the Washington NPR affiliate, in the car on the way to work, and I hear a reporter describe Vince Gray as "mayor-elect." Gray defeated Mayor Adrian Fenty in the Democratic primary yesterday, but this, of course, does not make him "mayor-elect." Gray has to win the November election for mayor before he gets to be called "mayor-elect." He will win the race, of course, because Washington, D.C. is a one-party entity, but still, journalists should probably have a bit more respect for the technical election process here.

By the way -- and this is Goldblog Hobby-Horse Number 73 -- one of the reasons we residents of Washington, D.C., suffer from taxation without representation is the one-party nature of this city. Republicans have every incentive in the world to deny us voting representation in Congress. I've always thought that voters in Washington who are interested in enfranchisement ought to vote more strategically. But that's just me.