By Harry Jaffe
A week of rain has turned our lawns a deep shade of green, which is one of the few colors not a factor in the coming campaign season in the nation’s capital.
We have Gray running for mayor. The race for city council chairman pits Brown against Orange. The candidates will try to knit together a coalition of blacks and whites. Mayor Adrian Fenty too often sees red when anyone — especially a reporter — questions his actions.
It is very early in the game, but already we have detected some “tells,” as we say at the poker table.
Vincent Orange threw his hat in the ring for council chair last week. Once he was certain that finance committee chairman Jack Evans would not run against Kwame Brown, Orange leapt.
Who was most pleased that Orange chose to leave the private sector and run for public office again? Pepco, where Orange had been working as a lobbyist since he lost his bid to be mayor in 2006.
The second most pleased group was the cabal of old-timers who persuaded Orange to take the plunge. Among them we recognized three former city council members: H.R. Crawford, John Ray and Kevin Chavous. There’s old school, and then there’s old and in the way. All three got aced out with Fenty as mayor. They’re betting Orange can wire them back into power, maybe throw some contracts their way.
Fat chance.
Orange would have to convince voters that he’s a better man to lead the city council than at-large member Brown. People have their doubts about Brown. I don’t. He’s worked hard to build a citywide base. He’s clashed with Fenty. Sure, he has to stiffen his back on some issues and grow into the job. He can.
Now we come to Adrian Fenty vs. Vince Gray. Gray has announced — twice — but is he actually running? He’s been so lethargic that some have suggested he might quit before he begins.
Gray is talking with supporters. And talking. He has yet to articulate why anyone should vote for him, other than the fact that he’s not Fenty. He’s betting that Fenty has alienated so many voters in his three years as mayor that Gray will win on the ABA vote: Anyone But Adrian.
That will get him 46 percent of the vote, and Fenty will get the rest.
Fenty doesn’t rest. He’s been walking the streets and knocking on doors. He started this week at Scott Circle, waving signs at commuters down Massachusetts Avenue. Still, he could be headed for one of the more stunning defeats in memory. He won all precincts in his first election, but his petulance and cronyism have grossed out supporters. One recent poll gave Gray an edge of more than 15 percent.
Which convinced Fenty’s supporters he needed help, so they finally ponied up to hire Tom Lindenfeld to manage his campaign.
Back to colors, green actually will be a factor — as in cash; Fenty and Brown already have swept most of it from the table.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
