DC local politics/Election 2008

Seeing as how I'm in D.C. interning on Capitol Hill, I'd thought I'd comment on D.C. politics. the District of Columbia is a Democratic bastion (it has given every democrat for president all 3 of its electoral votes). Kerry got 90% here, Bush got 9%. Republicans are such a rare breed in this city, that when I saw a small Ford Focus with D.C. plates and a George W. Bush sticker, I had to snap a picture. The Maryland Suburbs (Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, Rockville) are also very Democratic (both Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, which surround D.C. You have to go an hour north of D.C. to Frederick, Maryland before you get some Republican representation and a GOP congressman. DC's inner suburbs in NOVA (Northern Virginia) such as Arlington and Alexandria are also very democratic, but not by as much as D.C. and Maryland. You can go just 15 minutes south into Fairfax County and be in some GOP territory, although the Dems are gaining ground quickly in this last Republican stronghold in the DC area. Bush lost Fairfax County in 2004 (the first time a Rep. running for Prez has ever lost the county) an the county went for a democrat, Tim Kaine, for governor by wide margins. George Allen, the current GOP senator from Virginia, while a conservative, has the ability to make some gains in Virginia if he ran for president. I met him here in the halls of congress and he's very likeable. I would prefer to see Condi Rice at the top of the ticket, but an Allen/Rice ticket would also be very attractive...