On Tuesday, local voters will head to the polls with at least one of the major presidential nominating contests undecided.

After this week’s Super Tuesday results, the upcoming “Potomac Primaries” loom large for the Democratic Party, with Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) holding a slim 1,033-937 delegate lead over Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), according to CNN.com. The Republican nomination is still uncertain, although Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) holds a substantial delegate lead over his closest remaining rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, after former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) announced the withdrawal of his candidacy yesterday.

Virginia’s Democratic primary will award 101 delegates, 99 are at stake in Maryland and 37 in D.C. For the Republicans, 63 delegates are at stake in Virginia, 37 in Maryland and 19 in D.C.

In 2004, the D.C. Democratic Party chose to hold the country’s first election, on Jan. 14, 2004, in order to draw attention to the issue of D.C. voting rights. Former Gov. Howard Dean (R-Vt.) won the election with 43 percent of the vote, but the Democratic National Committee deemed the election non-binding because of its early date, and no delegates were awarded at the time. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) won both the Virginia and Maryland primaries in 2004. In the 2000 presidential primary, former Vice President Al Gore won Maryland and the District. Virginia did not have a Democratic primary that year.

Then-Gov. George W. Bush (R-Tex.) won the 2000 D.C., Virginia and Maryland primaries, and ran virtually unopposed in 2004.

Many voters in Virginia are so anxious to cast their votes that they tried to do so, a week early. According to the Associated Press, more than 400 voters called the Virginia State Board of Elections on Tuesday, Feb. 5, wondering why their polling locations were closed, only to be informed that the primary was the following Tuesday.

While some Virginia voters are eager to vote, representatives of some local businesses say they are thinking about how the new president will affect the economy.

“Anyone that [is elected president] will approach the economic situation differently and change it as they see fit,” Zach Dewy, of the Georgetown Running Company, said. “I think the economy is in trouble. We’ve already seen the housing market burst,” he said.

“The economic [situation] will take time to fix, maybe three or four years,” Patricia Tabla, of Cabello’s Hair Salon on 34th Street, said.
Many students on campus will also be closely following the election coverage, even if they cannot vote until the general election.

“I like Obama and McCain,” said Michael Clark (GRD ’11), an independent. “They both seem like good upstanding people. I think that character and leadership style are important,” he said.