District Of Columbia

Congressional Race

Population (1994): 570,000 (down 6.1% from 1990), 0.2% of U.S. total

Voting-age population: 452,000; 1994 turnout, 40%

Median age: 33.5 years

Median household income: $30,116 ($2,148 below U.S. median)

Unemployment: 8.8% (3.2% above U.S. average, March 1996)

Last presidential election:

Clinton (D): 85%

Bush (R): 9%

Perot (I): 4%

Congressional delegation: One Democrat, no Republicans

When Pierre L'Enfant's design was laid out, Washington was meant to be a haven of logic and order, with straight, broad thoroughfares befitting the capital of a new democratic nation. Under federal control since its inception, the District wasn't granted suffrage until the 23rd Amendment in 1961, and didn't obtain self-rule until 1974. In recent years, Washington once earned the dubious honor of being the murder capital of the U.S., and it mimics the Third World with its two distinct societies: the affluence of the mostly white northwest and the equally extreme poverty of mostly black Anacostia, where infant mortality is twice the national average.

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