Barry, Allen Greet Voters on D.C. Primary Day

Sounding confident, former D.C. mayor Marion Barry greeted voters at various polling places Tuesday. He made the rounds wearing a straw hat, well-polished shoes and a short-sleeved white shirt with an ethnic print stripe through the middle.

Barry won the Ward Eight seat in 1992, after serving jail time on a drug charge. Two years later, he used it as a springboard to once again become mayor. He left the mayor's office in January of 1999.

His opponent and a two-term incumbent Sandy Allen made dozens of stops across Ward Eight Tuesday, hoping to keep her job.

Allen says she's "disappointed" her long-time friend and mentor decided to run against her, but says she'll always be friends with the man for whom she was once a campaign manager.

Wearing a T-shirt with her picture on it, Allen paid a visit to the Washington Highlands. She hugged three Barry volunteers when she arrived, then shook hands with her own volunteers and a few voters.

Polls in D.C. are open until 8 p.m.

Primary voters will select each party's nominee for a congressional Delegate, At-Large seats on the City Council, and a U.S. Representative who serves as an unpaid lobbyist on behalf of D.C. statehood.

Council seats are on the ballots in Wards 2, 4, 7 and 8. Democrats will elect the leaders of its State Committee, which is the party's official governing body. Democrats will choose the District's representatives to the Democratic National Committee.

In the Republican primary, voters will chose between incumbent At-Large D.C. Council Member Carol Schwartz and two challengers.

D.C.'s Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is running unopposed.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press and Metro Networks Communications Inc., A Westwood One Company. All Rights Reserved.)