My moles down at the Fourth Street city offices reported long lines of voters casting early ballots, which raises a few questions.
Are they working the old “vote early and often” routine of electing local political bosses in Chicago and Philly? The integrity of D.C.’s voting system is so questionable they just might get away with it. Check the rolls for dead voters and double-dippers.
Are they so besotted with the idea that Barack Obama might win that they can’t wait to cast a ballot, even though their vote will join the assured D.C. landslide for the Democrat? They will get the satisfaction of a tiny share of the three electoral college votes that could just put Obama over the top.
Or do they realize that their vote truly can make a difference in the only election that matters: Who will fill the at-large seat on the City Council?
It is a sad fact in our neo-Stalinist, one-party town that so few of the local races are actually in play, thanks to the preponderance of Democrats. And few seats matter. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is running unopposed. Democrats running for city council ward seats — Jack Evans, Muriel Bowser, Marion Barry and Yvette Alexander — are running with token opposition. I applaud those brave souls running for the school board, but in its neutered, “advisory” role to the state superintendent, does the board matter?
What does matter is who will fill the fourth at-large seat on the 13-member city council. By city charter, one of the two candidates must not be a Democrat. Kwame Brown, the Dem, has a lock. That leaves a tossup between these three: Patrick Mara, Republican on the ballot; incumbent Carol Schwartz, Republican write-in whom Mara beat in the primary; and Michael Brown, Democrat running as an Independent — thus, I believe, corrupting the rules set forth in the charter.
Word deep inside the smoke-filled rooms (OK, latte-laden coffee shops), where political trash talk goes down like an iced double mocha frappe no foam, is that Mayor Adrian Fenty favors Mara. Perish the thought of a sitting Democratic mayor actually endorsing a Republican. Remember the hell former mayor Tony Williams caught when he endorsed Connie Morella for Congress in Montgomery County?
I have not spoken to Fenty on the matter, but I know that he pondered such an endorsement over the weekend. I know why he prefers Mara. Like Fenty, Mara’s young and direct and pounded the streets to get votes. He supports Fenty’s takeover of the public schools. He is no threat. Carol Schwartz, on the other hand, opposed the school reform and would continue to challenge him.
Then there’s Michael Brown, perennial candidate. He challenged Fenty for mayor in 2006. He stabbed Fenty in the back when he bailed out and backed Linda Cropp. He ran for and lost the Ward 4 seat Fenty once had. He has a history of questionable financial dealings, including one well-told in City Paper’s Loose Lips column last week.
If you support Fenty, vote Mara. Fenty will.
