Potomac Confidential: Inaugural Preview

Marc Fisher (The Washington Post)

Today Marc Fisher provides the guaranteed final inaugural preview in the minutes before the swearing-in.

"We'll cover the scene on the streets, the making of 'Fortress Washington,' the District getting stuck with the bill for the week's events, and, for those who've already caught the coronation blues, we're open for all things non-inaugural," says Fisher.

Read Marc's Inauguration 2005 Article:

Don't Be a Stranger! Be a Resident, Mr. President (Post, Jan. 20) and

Today's Regular Column:It's Not A Renaissance Without Schools (Post, Jan. 20)

A transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard, folks. There should be a federal law requiring snow at the inauguration--there's nothing like a little blanket of purity to camouflage our petty political divisions.
The city looks lovely this morning, until you get to ground level and see the barricades and the Jersey barriers and the new ugliness, those black wire blockades that have been erected along the public sidewalks of so many blocks of downtown. If this is a war, we appear to have lost.
So: Who's going to what party? What have you been seeing and hearing around town this week? What would it surprise you to hear from the president in his speech, which will start as this show ends?
And for those who crave a break from things inaugural, how about that story on Page One about how folks who take a drink every day are not only going to live longer, but will be smarter too? Who says there's no good news anymore?
Many thanks to the many of you who have asked after this show's absence over the past few weeks. I am serving on a jury in D.C. Superior Court and have been unable to be here at showtime. We're moving toward a conclusion and I hope to be back here as usual henceforth.
A quick Yay and Nay of the Day and off we go:
Yay to Mr. Benjamin Franklin, who offered Americans this essential piece of wisdom: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Consider that as you see what a fortress we have allowed our showcase capital to become.
Nay to the mini-fortress being constructed by Prince George's County authorities, who have decided to build a wall to separate the District and the county. The idea is to halt the free flow of criminals between the two jurisdictions, but the symbolic effect is to say that the police cannot control the bad guys and must resort to a dehumanizing tool that punishes everyone. Just because the feds do it doesn't mean the locals should copy them.
Now, your turn:

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Anonymous: First things first: I cannot seem to find a schedule for today's inauguration on the Washington Post's Web site. Can you please provide the link?
Secondly: Those fireworks last night were stupendous. Do you happen to know which company produced them?

washingtonpost.com: Inauguration Program

Marc Fisher: Here's the link to the program of events.
I'm not sure which company handled last night's fireworks, but I do know that the Zambelli Fireworks company has done the work for every president since John Kennedy.

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Washington, D.C.: Comment: I work at 7th & Penn, NW, and there is a massive roadblock preventing a crowd of hundreds of protesters from getting through; the security precautions seem overwhelming.

Marc Fisher: They are indeed overwhelming, but the pictures I am seeing from the scene show a large protest group massed along the parade route there, preparing to turn their backs on the president as he goes by. I take your word that it's hard for folks to reach the Avenue, but many seem to have been able to get there.

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Gaithersburg, Md.: Marc,
The RNC and the Bush administration are demonstrating the kind of political retribution they are famous for by sticking the city with the entire cost of staging the upcoming coronation ... er, inauguration. This is not what the Homeland Security funds were intended for. Will they get away with it? They are saying "this is what D.C. gets for over 80 percent of the city voting for Kerry/Edwards."

Marc Fisher: I can't see how the decision to stick the District with the bill is anything but payback, or at least an expression of contempt. It is petty and small and cynical, and no, I doubt it will be reversed.

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Arlington, Va.: Marc,

Thanks for taking time to do this. I am going to the Texas-Wyoming Ball tonight and was wondering the best way to get there. Metro or cab from Arlington? How many people attend these balls?

Marc Fisher: My experience in the past is that the balls are very crowded--that makes them both fun and exasperating. The standard advice is to avoid the streets and the security roadblocks by using Metro, and that is undoubtedly good advice. But I have to admit to you that I am often tempted in these cases to take advantage of the fact that most of us are good citizens who follow the official advice and stay off the roads. So what generally happens is that the roads are delightfully clear. Still, the security web is no joke--so this time, I can't in good conscience recommend my usual endrun around the official advice.

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Washington, D.C.: Do you know if there are any estimates about the number of protestors who are on the streets today? Do you expect there will be egg throwing like W's last inauguration?

Marc Fisher: I haven't heard any numbers. The reports I'm hearing from the streets are that there are some protesters sprinkled around the city, with a few mid-sized clusters, but nothing large-scale. The groups I've heard talking about their plans have said theirs will be peaceful protests, even creative ones, such as the folks who are going to turn their backs on the motorcade.

Marc Fisher: post.com's Anne Rittman tells us in an audio report on our Inaugural Blog that the security checkpoints have created long, long lines, but no particular conflicts.

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Silver Spring, Md.: The article in the Washington Post dated 1/19/2005 by Del Quentin Wilber and Allan Lengel refers to the situation where a man threaten to blow up his van near the White House, as not appearing to be related to terrorism. Can you explain what constitutes terrorism if this doesn't?

washingtonpost.com: Standoff Near White House Underscores Tight Security (Post, Jan. 19)

Marc Fisher: Terrorism implies a political motivation. Van Man was apparently driven by a domestic dispute. The sad part of that encounter is the continuing unwillingness of the authorities to confront these lunatics and clear the street.

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Washington, D.C.: Why is it that the majority of the country music celebrities in the U.S. support Bush where as the majority of all the other music celebrities oppose Bush? From what I've seen on the news the inauguration festivities, this year, are just one big episode of "Hee Haw".

Is this just more of the Red state/Blue state divide?

Marc Fisher: Sounds like classic red/blue divide to me, but let's not fall into musical stereotyping too quickly: The latest numbers from Arbitron show a continuing and strong decline in country music listening, which contradicts the voting trend. What we have is a far more complex and interesting country than those who hawk the Red/Blue polarization theory would have us believe. There's a huge middle of Americans who like hip-hop and Republican presidents, who believe the government should stay out of personal lives yet vote for security in the form of GOP candidates.

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Alexandria, Va.: Do you know what time the Stealth fly over will occur?

Marc Fisher: I heard it would follow the president's speech, which would put it somewhere around 12:30. But I could well be wrong. Anyone know definitively?

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Logan Circle, Washington, D.C.: Does this TV-B-Gone really exist? Your column was satire, right? I think you made it up. Where can I get one?

Marc Fisher: Tis very real. They are sold at www.tvbgone.com and no, I don't get a cut. (I wish.) The owner of the company says you folks are ordering them in droves.

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Alexandria, Va.: Congratulations for doing your part to encourage the madness that IS our nation's obsession with developing new technologies to counteract the immediately-preceding technology. (e.g., telephones-caller ID-caller block; popup ads-popup blockers).

My patent for TV-B-Gone-B-Gone awaits approval.

Marc Fisher: Well, thanks, I guess. I do think we are headed into an era of warring technologies, as we take our little disputes into the techno platform. So we'll have dueling gizmos--cell phone vs. jammer, blaring public TVs vs. zappers, plus the ones you listed. Should be fun.

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washingtonpost.com: TV B-Gone

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Arlington, Va.: Is it just me, or has there been a marked increase in the number of locally-licensed cars sporting "Bush-Cheney" bumper stickers SINCE the election? While I find it a little annoying to see how many of my fellow Democrats are still displaying their Kerry colors -- if you do not like the president you could find more clever ways to express it, I find it pretty obnoxious, not to mention cowardly, to wait for the outcome to put your preference on display.

Marc Fisher: What I don't get is all the folks I see going about their daily business while wearing Kerry or Bush buttons. I saw four such folks at one restaurant over the weekend, and this was in Rockville--hardly the white-hot core of political mania. Isn't this carrying things a bit far?

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Burke, Va.: I am going to a ball and feel like there could be some celebrities there? Any you know of?

Marc Fisher: Depends how you define celebs. Not much in the way of Hollywood types--it's not their party, so to speak. But lots of political and corporate types. And tons of rich folks of all sorts. You won't be disappointed--the ball scene is a feast for the eyes.

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Arlington, Va.: Posted this question earlier for a chat that was canceled, so pardon for the repetition. One of the reported terms for the baseball deal was restrictions on how often the city can use the stadium for other events (sports, concerts, festivals). Don't know if that's in the final deal, but why would Major League Baseball try to prevent the city from maximizing its return on its investment? Wouldn't other events bring revenue to the city?

Marc Fisher: It's not simply that baseball wants to prevent the city from recouping its investment in the ballpark. It's that baseball is highly suspicious of any activity that could detract from the quality of the playing field during the baseball season. Baseball is a daily game and concerts and other events that use the field do threaten to destroy the field. That said, the number of dates on which the city can rent out the stadium has been increased, and I think Washington will find that there aren't as many opportunities to rent it out as you might think. After all, look at how infrequently RFK has been used in recent years.

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Georgetown, Washington, D.C.: As usual, your bias (and that of your readers) gets in the way of the facts:

(1) Tom Davis, chairman of the relevant House committee and the best friend D.C. has in Congress, has promised that D.C. will be made whole for the costs incurred. There is no reason to doubt that he'll be able to deliver.

(2) Clinton's second inaugural cost more than this go 'round ($42 million to $40 million). Adjusted for inflation, the 1996 party cost about $50 million. Of course, these figures come from the other paper in town, so they can't be right, can they?

Marc Fisher: I have no doubt that the Clinton festival cost more--it was way, way over the top, which is why all those Clintonian types have been so supportive of the inaugural excesses this time around.
But don't take Tom Davis' comments as any assurance that the District will be made whole. D.C. officials say they have received no such indication from the feds, who are still saying, as the president himself did, that this is a cost that the city must take on itself.

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Washington, D.C.: Marc, Just read your article on eclectic radio stations (Jack, Bob, etc). I was in Columbus, Ohio, over the holidays and could not get enough of 103.9, TED. I commented to my boyfriend that it was the most random set of songs and isn't it great how few commercials there are? It was extremely refreshing for someone like myself who loves everything from the Beatles to Kenny Rogers to Maroon 5. I just wish we could get a station like that in D.C. so that I don't have to switch radio stations after every song. Thanks for shedding some light on this new phenomenon.

Marc Fisher: Thanks--wish I could offer some hope, but don't hold your breath waiting for a station like that to come here. Rock is a declining format, in any flavor of the format. Watch instead for more Spanish stations and perhaps more news/talk/sports.

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Washington, D.C.: I'd like to know why the Post persists in printing these ridiculous comments from local officials about how bad the traffic will be downtown. It's just plain spin and the news stories never seem to recognize that. I took the bus and Metro to get to work downtown from Bethesda this morning (1 hour plus) only to discover the streets are totally bare and traffic is EXTREMELY light. It seems obvious to me that local officials say traffic is going to be awful just to keep people from driving. (The quote I recall is that it was going to the equivalent of a regular rush hour plus a terrible snowstorm.) Why does the Post buy this fearmongering baloney and pass it onto us hapless readers? It makes me disbelieve everything I read in the paper. (And if you aren't able to answer this question online, please forward it to the paper's ombudsman.)

Thanks for your time!

Marc Fisher: Excellent question. Our instinct is to report the facts, and the facts are that there is an extraordinary level of security including massive closing of streets. That's reason enough to put the facts out there and pass along the official advice to avoid coming into the core of the city. But you are of course right that anytime such advice is heeded, the result is empty streets that are a breeze to navigate.
But I don't see how we could justify refusing to report the facts that the streets will be closed. That would be irresponsible. And the truth is that however empty the streets are, there are and will be periods of major entanglement as the police shut down large corridors to let the limo brigades through. There were some mega tieups last night and will be again today.

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Metro Center, Washington, D.C.: In metro stations you can get the rail-to-bus transfer passes which saves those of us who transfer onto a bus a lot of money. A lot of people use these yet it always seems like there is something wrong with them at Metro Center. Why doesn't Metro monitor these better and make sure there is paper in the machines and they work properly?

Marc Fisher: They're too busy inventing new ways to make the system more difficult to use. (Have you ever tried to get into one of the Metro parking lots without being a member of the secret club that has those SmartCards? And have you ever tried to get one of those cards? Is there a secret code you have to have for that?)

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Anonymous: Is there actually any official space on Pennsylvania Ave., for the general public? It sounds like it's just walls of bleachers and reserved space and that unless you are a protestor or a doner, you're SOL.

Marc Fisher: There are indeed a number of places along the parade route that are supposed to be open to the public--there's a map in the paper that shows those spots. But they are small, and my bet is that they filled early.
And for those of you who doubt the security overkill theory, check out this from our Inaugu-Blog '05:

No Apples Allowed
A soldier in camouflage fatigues barked out the long list of items banned from the parade zone: No cans. No backpacks. No umbrellas. And no fruit, apparently an effort to keep protesters from hurling mushy missiles at the president's limousine.

No fruit? The edict set off a mild panic among dozens of young volunteers for the presidential inaugural committee at the south entrance to Pennsylvania Avenue on 12th Street, who moments earlier had been handed bag lunches. Each contained a sandwich, candy bar, bottle of water, and a moist towelette decorated with an American flag motif. And an apple.

A few volunteers quickly dipped into the suddenly forbidden fruit, chewing and swallowing quickly. Others left their apples on a ledge-- shiny red symbols of the most restricted inaugural in history. --Debbi Wilgoren

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K Street Corridor: Marc: Greetings from 14th and K. The drive in was a snap; the garage was half empty, and if I had not been so lazy, I could have scored a space right in front of my building. Of course, listening to the bullhorn from the demonstrators in McPherson Square is a tad annoying. I'm glad everyone else followed the advice not to drive and stay home.

Marc Fisher: Always go against the traffic grain is my advice. But of course the problem with a newspaper giving that advice to a million readers is that it becomes meaningless. It's like those ludicrous radio ads that purport to let you in on traffic shortcuts: As soon as the shortcuts get announced, they are no longer shortcuts.

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Reston, Va.: What remedy is the White House suggesting for people who don't have the experience to handle "privatized" Social Security investments safely and find themselves retiring with far less than the current S.S. arrangements would have provided? Welfare?

Marc Fisher: No, poverty. The easy fix would be to have the social security system offer selected investment portfolios that would be the automatic default for those who don't take the time to steer their own accounts.

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Washington, D.C.: At these balls does the president and his family, Cheney family, etc. ... attend these together and sit down eat, dance, etc. ..., or do they just come in give a speech and leave the others to enjoy the festivities?

I'd imagine the president and his entourage have to visit a lot of balls to keep everyone happy, so it's hard to believe that his entourage would actually be able to kick back and enjoy himself. Will the twins be with mom and dad, or do they sneak off and become the "girls gone wild"?

Marc Fisher: In the past, the presidential family has always traveled as one, and no, they never alight at any particular ball long enough to do anything but take the stage, say a few words, perhaps join in on one dance, and skidoodle to the next ball. I've never heard of a president actually eating or sitting down to chat at any of these events. I expect he gets home and orders a pizza. Being the focus of the party tends to mean not tasting the food. Just like brides and grooms often don't get around to eating at their own wedding.

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Rosslyn, Va.: Why doesn't Metro do anything about the panhandlers that sit outside their stations? Particularly I am annoyed to see every day the same panhandlers at the back entrance of the Rosslyn Metro. They are there so often that one of the guys has an office chair set and milk crates set up every day. These people aren't homeless, they are con-artists, panhandlers! Why doesn't Metro do anything to get them off their property and from pestering their customers.

Marc Fisher: What would you have them do? Why is it Metro's responsibility? Seems to me this is a problem at a much higher level. As a society, we refuse to make any institutions available to folks who have no place to live and who cannot manage their own lives. So we dump them on the streets, and then the people who are paid to protect such folks make highfalutin arguments about how these folks have the right to live on the streets. As if somehow there's a class of people who enjoy living in 10 degree nights on the street. It's willful, arrogant neglect, and it's a crime that goes far beyond Metro.

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Tysons Corner, Va.: I saw your answer about the Metro to the Convention Center tonight. How long is the walk? Being a girl in high heels and a dress ... I really do not want to make that long in the cold.

Marc Fisher: No need to worry--there's a Metro station, conveniently named "Convention Center" with an exit that is directly under the center itself. You won't be exposed to the elements for more than about six seconds.

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New Picture: Hey the new picture -- You look a lot less like a scatter-brained reporter than you did before. However, now you look like an 8th grade science teacher.

Marc Fisher: Oh man, that's a real step up. I think I'll take the scatterbrained reporter. My eighth grade science teacher, Dr. Zak, was a dead ringer for Zbigniew Brzinski, for what that's worth.

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Annandale, Va.: Tell the commentator at 7th and Penn. that I was at that spot at the last inaugural to cheer Pres. Bush. I walked up 7th St. a block and watched as the protestors rolled a desk-sized steel container through unmanned barricades and then a couple thousand rushed down 7th to Penn. One line of cops stood there and they didn't rush past the cops, they bottled up a few thousand people and then went over and tore down the flags at the Navy Memorial (which I didn't know till later). Some of the protestors were honestly protesting but most were young kids out for a good time and trying to be disruptive. I am glad security is good this time -- as one gentleman next to me said to the kids: "why are you trying to spoil this inaugural?"

Marc Fisher: Well, I'm with you standing against rolling steel desks. But I don't see how peaceful protesters are spoiling an inauguration. I want them at every inauguration, no matter who's the prez. Otherwise, it's a coronation. The beauty of a good old American inauguration is that it's a y'all come affair. We won't have anymore Andrew Jackson open houses at the White House, but we could easily decide to charge ahead and open the avenue to all. That would send a clear message to the terrorists, unlike this show of fear and cowardice.

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Arlington, Va.: I enjoyed your "Be a Resident, Mr. President" piece and have a story that suggests GWB might actually have find going out for the occasional dinner -- even in the this blue part of the world -- a rewarding experience.

Several years ago, I was having dinner at Rio Grande in Bethesda on a momentous evening. The Senate Judiciary Committee had just finished grilling Clarence Thomas and voted to send his nomination forward to the full Senate.

I wasn't living here then. Was just visiting a friend. We'd been watching the hearings off and on and then went out for dinner. Lots of vehicles with lights on top pulled up in front of the restaurant, there were various goings-on at the door that we didn't pay too much attention to, and then in came George and Bar and some of their retainers. He was in casual clothes and looking very tired. GHWB was in casual clothes and l had the impression that he'd been watching the hearings, waited for the vote, and then turned to Jim Baker or some such person and said, "Damn, I'm glad that's over. Let's call Bar and go get something to eat."

It was fun. I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a Republican, but I found myself applauding, along with everyone else in the restaurant, when I realized who'd walked in. So, you're right. GWB might get a kick out of going out for dinner in D.C.

When I tell this story, by the way, I refer to it as the night I had dinner with the president.

Marc Fisher: Nice story, and a classic Washington tale. That's the sort of story many people have about any previous president. Just looking at the number of restaurants in the city and suburbs alike that have photos of Bush I, Clinton, Carter or Reagan on their walls reminds us of how even in this high-security age, presidents can and do get around and try to grab a few bits of normalcy. This president--any president--would benefit greatly from trying that from time to time.

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Washington, D.C.: Rosslyn, Va.:"These people aren't homeless, they are con artists, panhandlers!" Just remove the panhandlers and con artists from your sight? So homelessness is someone else's problem to fix? Are these people any better?

Marc Fisher: Thank you.

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Arlington, Va.: I assume the Bush and Cheney family will be at the Texas-Wyoming Ball ... am I correct?

Marc Fisher: They usually try to hit most, if not all, of the balls. That task will be easier than ever to accomplish tonight because so many of the balls are being held at the Convention Center. In the past, they were much more spread out around town. The Convention Center isn't as interesting a venue as some of the hotels that have hosted balls in the past, but it will make for some fun as folks try to slip in and out of the various balls in that building.

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Rockville, Md.: Marc: I worked on the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee in 1988 for Bush I's inauguration. I don't remember the Presidential Committee taking up most of the room on Pennsylvania Ave., but I do remember people on the "committee" were very possessive of any item that had a presidential emblem on it to include jars of M&Ms. The feeling of us peons was exactly that, that the Presidential Committee felt the military was there only to serve them.

Marc Fisher: That's a common criticism. The folks who run the inaugural committees are the hard core of the true believers behind any president, and they do tend to have a very cavalier attitude.

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Marc Fisher: Best moment so far: Right now--Rehnquist arriving on the stage. Dramatic moment, whatever you think of his politics.

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Washington, D.C.: Wow, that's a pretty high-minded answer for what was such a simple question; how to get rid of the panhandlers around Metro stations.

Let's put the multigenerational and multimillion dollar social engineering aside for a moment, and concentrate on a more pressing concern: the panhandlers.

Can't we do something about that in the short-term before we try to restructure society?

Marc Fisher: What would you do? Where would you put them? The shelters are full, or the folks on the streets consider them too dangerous to spend time in. Next alternative?

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Frederick, Md.: What do you think will happen first in 2005? Slots in Maryland or Martha's prison reform? Ha, Ha, Ha! Did Santa bring gifts in the form of common sense to the Metro Board? Again, Ha, Ha, Ha!

Marc Fisher: Anti gay marriage amendments in both Maryland and Virginia will happen first.

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Washington, D.C.: Note to the Convention Center Ball-goer: the Post's info says the Mt. Vernon Sq.-Convention Center station is scheduled to be closed from 3 p.m. 'till 1 a.m. today. Which means you probably have to walk from Gallery Place -- a third- to half-mile walk.

Marc Fisher: Oh my--thanks for that. Sorry to have missed that fact. Still, Gallery Place Metro is only three blocks away, at 7th and H.

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Rhododendron, Ore.: Does it appear that media coverage and pressure from Eleanor Holmes Norton and others will lead the administration to give D.C. additional funds to cover inaugural security? It is appalling the city is forced to use it's homeland security funds budget to cover a one-two day $17 million expenditure.

Marc Fisher: Pressure from the delegate? Surely you jest. That would be about as persuasive to this administration as pressure from the French.

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Red State: Careful with the stereotypes about country musicians. There are exceptions. Willie Nelson campaigned for Kucinich. Even Merle Haggard, who really is pretty right-wing, recorded a very questioning song about the Iraq war.

Marc Fisher: Quite true. But it's safe to say there is more political diversity in the country world than in the rock world.

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Annandale, Va.: Hey Marc, I worked for a food bank giving out food to homeless people every Monday for three years in Arlington, Va., during the nineties. The homeless people I met don't want to go inside ... they barely acknowledged the help we gave ... they are either mentally ill or some form of drug addict. I felt good giving them food but I know what they are like: you can't drag them into a shelter if they don't want to go. If they become a public nuisance at the Metro stop, then maybe they should be dragged into a shelter. Human life is worthy of help Marc, but there has to be some kind of limit to the help that we give when drug-induced crazies make themselves a nuisance.

Marc Fisher: It's not a question of limits of help, but of giving help that makes sense both for them and for the larger community. Getting people off the streets against their will may offend some purist lawyers, but it happens to be good for both the homeless and the rest of us.

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Iowa: My sympathies to the Washington residents who are feeling glum today -- for so many reasons. Please know that there are many of us out here in the hinterlands who are having a very hard time with today's events and we aren't even being inconvenienced or discomfitted by having our city locked down.

Marc Fisher: Thanks--I think Washingtonians tend to be more open to their political opponents than folks who don't live with the apparatus of politics year-round. So we're not having a hard time so much with the content of this administration as with the sense of being fenced out of our own city, and we're trying to get the rest of the country to realize what's being lost by mortgaging our capital to a false sense of security.

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Brzinski?: Did the Spanish teacher look like Kissinger? If so, did those glasses look good on her?

Marc Fisher: I should have typed Brzezinski. No, the Spanish teacher was no Kissinger, but the Russian teacher did have Andropov tendencies.

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Gaithersburg, Md.: Mr. Fisher:
Re: Tuesday's column about affordable housing in Mont. Co.
Frederick Co., and other surrounding counties, for the most part, are no more affordable than Mo.Co. anymore, and getting less so every day.
My son is 17. I don't know where he will be able to afford to buy a house in six years or so. He is probably destined to live in West Va. or Pennsylvania.
As an aside, I am tired of hearing about affordable housing for "teachers, police, firefighters", etc. With their excellent benefits packages and decent salaries, their spending power is as good as many in the private sector. Sure, it takes two incomes, but the same is true for all of us anymore.

Marc Fisher: True, but it's become very difficult even for two-income families to afford the average house in MoCo. Frederick isn't cheap, but it is considerably cheaper than MoCo--we're talking averages here, so there will be exceptions.

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Hillcrest, Washington, D.C.: Marc,

There was a Metro section cover story this week about the Kwame Brown D.C. At-Large Council campaign and how it paid out a lot of money to Kwame's father, brother and a firm owned by his campaign manager, who was supposedly a "volunteer." Most of the money was spent after the competitive part of the campaign was over. It seems like a "pay out" to me.

Brown defeated Harold Brazil in part because he campaigned as a reformer and looked good when compared to Brazil's ethically-challenged history. But now it seems like we have elected Brazil-lite. Do you think we're in for four more years of the very shenanigans we voted out when Brazil got the boot?

Marc Fisher: Hard to say. I don't have a good sense of Brown yet. He seems more engaged than Brazil, and perhaps less beholden to the downtown power structure. But we shall see.

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Marc Fisher: Wrapping up now so we can turn to the president's address. Thanks for coming along. Back to the usual time next week.

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