i dont think arlington-alexandria, where i lived for several decades plus, is "home" to big military lobbying operations, although the pentagon is located there. arlington-alexandria is a very liberal voting area, and home to democratic party operations that really work at electing liberal democrats. virginia got its first black gov, doug wilder, years ago, because of the white turnout in arlington-alexandria.Well, I don't think any district that is home to the Pentagon can count itself as free of military-industrial influence. But Ivan is obviously onto something here: A-A does have a record of support for liberals statewide, though their own Congressman, Jim Moran, counts rather more as Blue Dog. In some ways, if you are looking for a military-industrial distrct, perhaps a better case could be made for the much richer Virginia 10th, a bit further east, home of so many of the lawyers and lobbyists that keep the political machine oiled.
On the other hand, here's an argument that's hard to top: Finder analyzes Department of Defense spending by district nationwide. The winner, by a runaway margin the Virginia 8th, with half again more contractors, with almost twice as much spending as the runnerup (which is, as it happens, the Virginia 10th). If that ain't military spending, I don't know what is.
Maybe the clue here can be found at the micro level: A-A liberals are people who are comfortable with government. They work there, or their relatives work there, or they did work there and soon will again. When they think "military," they don't think of a skinhead 20-year-old waving an M16A2; they think of the guy sitting next to them on the orange line to Metro Center, wearing camouflage duds and combat boots, carrying a briefcase and penciling a pile of spreadsheets. In the end, maybe the military-industrial complex comes down to that.
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