The listeners, mainly Shiites, weren't pushovers, as Musawi soon discovered. Underscoring their questions was the nagging concern of "exactly how Islamic is your party?"
Why is the slate's first candidate a Muslim cleric when "people don't want a religious government?" one immigrant demanded. What does an Islamic constitution mean? Will your party establish a theocracy? How much does Iran influence the party? And, by the way, what are the names of those 15 Sunni candidates?
About 26,000 Iraqi Americans are registered to vote in the three-day election period that ends Sunday, when people in Iraq will cast ballots. About 2,000 signed up at the D.C. polling site.
(Andrea Bruce Woodall -- The Washington Post)
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Video: Joy and applause marked the start of U.S. voting Friday among Iraqi expatriates choosing a new government for their homeland.
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Deciding Iraq's Future: Iraqi Americans will cast absentee ballots in five U.S. metropolitan areas, including Washington, for an election half a world away.
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"Yes, do you have anybody named Omar?" someone shouted, setting off a burst of laughter because everyone knew that Omar is a common Sunni name.
Musawi, 45, of Vienna, told his listeners that the cleric topped the list because he is a longtime activist, that Shiite clerics don't intend to run the government and that it "will be nothing like Iran." Banks, he added, will be allowed to pay interest, and women won't be required to wear head scarves.
Physician Mahdi Saad of Fairfax Station said he intends to vote for the slate. "They are honest people, and they have been in great conflict with Saddam Hussein," said Saad, who came to the United States in 1992 and became a U.S. citizen.
Others weren't convinced. Kubba, a secular-oriented Shiite, said that she appreciated Musawi's comments about reaching out to all groups but that he hadn't garnered her vote.
"I'm concerned about this emphasis on religion. I find it dangerous," the Vienna resident said.
Although many Iraqis are jubilant about the opportunity to vote, not all plan to cast ballots. Anas Shallal, 49, a Sunni businessman living in Annandale, was concerned that many Sunnis in Iraq wouldn't be able to vote because of the high level of violence in the regions where they are concentrated.
"I really feel a sense of solidarity with the people there," he said, adding that the government emerging from the election could have a dangerous ethnic imbalance.
But other local Sunnis said they supported the election.
"We need to get stability going in Iraq," said Dhia Aldoori, 50, a doctor from Cheverly.
"It's way too anarchic and dangerous without a government in place that has a taste, at least, of legitimacy."
