It took D.C. Mayor Vince Gray about 13 hours after leaving jail early Tuesday morning to start muddling his message on D.C. rights by linking it to abortion rights.

The mayor made the rounds on local and national television broadcasts, explaining he refused to leave Constitution Avenue on Monday evening and chose to be arrested because he was fighting for the city’s control over its budget. While on his media blitz, Gray tried to fight the national perception that his stand was over congressional meddling with abortion and not D.C.’s right to choose how it spends its local dollars.

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