Mayor Adrian Fenty didn’t seem like much of an underdog on the first day of primary voting.
The mayor’s machine was out in force Monday — an in-your-face, unrelenting rally of “four more years” mixed in with chants of “test scores up, crime going down.” Vans with green Fenty stickers slapped on their sides were a steady presence as they rolled up to One Judiciary Square to drop voters off at the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, host of the first polling site to open in this year’s first-ever early voting primary.
Monday was all about impact. It was a chance to roll back the mayor’s poor showing in a Washington Post poll that found him with the support of just 36 percent of the District’s Democrats, compared to 49 percent for rival D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray. The poll caused Fenty, who amassed a $5 million war chest, to brand himself the “underdog” in the contest. Team Fenty was campaigning in force, finally rolling out the get-out-the-vote effort it had been gearing up for months.
“It’s exceedingly important to get the vote out early,” Fenty told The Washington Examiner on Monday. “Only good can come of the higher turnout for the electorate and democracy. We believe our campaign will benefit from higher turnout.”
For much of the morning and into the early afternoon, Fenty stood at the center of about four dozen supporters, waving a green Fenty campaign sign and shouting along with chants blasted through megaphones. The in-your-face mentality started early, with a Fenty campaign staff member briefly interrupting a 9:30 a.m. Gray press conference with a megaphone.
“After [the Post poll], Fenty needs to continue showing strength,” said D.C. Council Chairman candidate Vince Orange as he watched the mayor bounce among his supporters.
Ward 3 resident Donna Rountree arrived about noon to cast her vote for the mayor.
“Until the votes come out, that poll means jack,” Rountree said.
Gray campaign spokeswoman Traci Hughes said they’re not taking heed of the poll, either.
“You can anticipate that we’ll keep the pressure on Mayor Fenty and we’re certainly not going to dampen our campaigning effort simply because we’re up in the polls,” Hughes said.
Gray’s supporters on Monday milled about on the edge of the larger Fenty crowd, quietly — by comparison — preaching for the chairman.
The Gray campaign has its own get-out-the-vote effort, but it’s relying more heavily on volunteers than Fenty’s campaign, which is paying big bucks — at least $100,000 so far, finance records show — to get the mayor’s supporters to the polls. With a much bigger war chest, Fenty can keep up the pressure and the noise for the next two weeks.
But Hughes said the Gray campaign is not worried about that.
“What matters is people showing up at the polls and participating,” Hughes said. “The amount of noise isn’t an indication of how people are casting their votes.”
