An Underdog Campaign With Teeth

Lately, Johns has taken to addressing that comparison head-on. At a forum last week at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School, she began her closing remarks by saying: "My name is Marie Collins Johns. It is not Sharon Pratt Kelly. I stand on my own record."

What is the Johns record? She says she offers varied life experience, professional success and a lengthy résumé of civic service, as well as an ironclad determination to improve the lives of District residents.

"We're going to touch voters morning, noon and night, and we're going to win by speaking to them," Johns said. "I want people to see my heart. I am truly running to serve."

Johns, 54, was born in Indianapolis, the daughter of a police officer and a secretary. She received a master's degree in public administration at Indiana University, where she and her husband, Wendell, were so poor that they lived for a time in federally subsidized housing, she notes on the campaign trail.

In 1985, her husband was working for a developer who moved his company to Bethesda, and the young couple followed. Johns, who had been working at the Indiana phone company, began her ascent through Bell Atlantic. She retired as president and chief executive of the local office in 2004, after Bell merged with GTE to become Verizon.

Johns and her husband moved into the District in 1999, settling in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Ward 3. Last year, convinced that her management experience made her the best choice to run the city, Johns decided to trade the plush life of retirement for the rough-and-tumble world of D.C. politics.

Her campaign got off to a rocky start. Her chief strategist, veteran organizer Marshall Brown, jumped ship and went to work for Cropp soon after Johns's announcement last July. But Johns rebounded, building a team of experienced women, including campaign manager Leslie Pinkston, who worked for Williams. She also hired Tim Law of mboxcommunications to "rebrand" the campaign. He and Pinkston came up with the new slogan, which Johns said "captured exactly what I want to say."

Johns's platform is focused heavily on fixing the city's troubled school system, which she says is to blame for a host of social problems. She wants to extend preschool to 3-year-olds, take over the day-to-day operations of the school system so Superintendent Clifford B. Janey can focus on education, and expand technical and vocational programs by opening a new campus of the University of the District of Columbia in Southeast Washington.

Johns blasts her opponents -- particularly Cropp, a former school board chairman -- for allowing the system to fall into disrepair.

"These problems are the result of years and years and years of insidious, day-by-day neglect," she said. "And all those in office have to be held accountable."

Over the past few months, Johns's message, retooled campaign and impressive debate performances have drawn the attention of political insiders.

"She's a powerful presence. And she's picking up some steam," said former mayoral spokesman Tony Bullock. "She has a lot of quiet support in the business community, people who are supporting her without wanting to offend" Cropp.

Eydie Whittington, a former Ward 8 council member, said Johns is popular east of the Anacostia River as well.

"I have a lot of respect for her integrity, honesty and passion -- and the fact that she has the nerve to even want to do this," Whittington said. "Cropp and Fenty came in with a bang. That doesn't mean they're going to go out with one."