The D.C. Council moved forward with a bill Tuesday to set the presidential and local primary for the first Tuesday in April 2012.
There’s one more vote on the bill before it becomes final. On Tuesday, as they discussed the bill, several councilmembers raised the idea of teaming up with Maryland and Delaware to hold their primaries on the same day. And a potential “Mid-Atlantic Primary” is not beyond reach: Both Maryland and Delaware are considering the first Tuesday in April as well.
The Mid-Atlantic Primary would replace the all-but-dead Potomac Primary that bound Maryland, Virginia and the District together in 2008. Virginia has already set the date for its 2012 presidential primary vote for the first Tuesday in March.
Both political parties are giving bonus delegates for the national conventions to jurisdictions that follow the new primary rules and bind themselves together for regional votes.
