Orange, Now Plodding, Sees Room to Surge

Mayoral Hopeful, No Stranger to Comeback Victories, Likes Where He Stands

Vincent Orange's fundraising trails that of Linda Cropp and Adrian Fenty. (Susan Biddle - Twp)

Since Vincent B. Orange Sr. unveiled himself as a "man on a mission" during a lavish breakfast gathering 19 months ago, he's been trying to build momentum and visibility in his quest to become D.C. mayor.

In the beginning, the two-term Ward 5 council member moved aggressively to raise his political profile. He sent out 90,000 glossy mailings, produced a 49-minute DVD chronicling his 49 years and held a big birthday bash at a popular nightspot in his Northeast Washington ward. He even pumped gas to attract attention to his call for a moratorium on the city's gas tax.

But in recent months, Orange, one of five major mayoral candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the Sept. 12 primary, has had a tough time getting his message across. Although he has spent countless hours at candidate forums and visited hundreds of homes, Orange acknowledged that he is behind in the polls and low on campaign cash.

"Obviously, I expected to be farther down the road in the mix at a high percentage," said Orange, who opted to run for mayor rather than run again for a council seat. He hasn't done a poll, but he has seen the numbers. "I feel I'm standing well. You catch the right spark, you can grab this and be in the winner's circle."

Compared with Linda W. Cropp, the council chairman, and Adrian M. Fenty (Ward 4), both front-runners in the polls, Orange is not yet competitive.

Even the poll numbers for Marie C. Johns, a former telecommunications executive with less name recognition and no political experience, have slightly surpassed his. Like Orange, however, Johns and lobbyist Michael A. Brown remain in the single digits. Money is also an issue. Orange's campaign has $430,291, leaving him well behind Cropp and Fenty, each with $1.7 million.

Orange said he had been hampered by speculation that created doubts about the seriousness of his campaign. Until he turned in his nominating petitions July 5 with about 6,000 signatures, Orange said there were rumors that he would drop out of the mayor's race and run for council chairman or that he would accept a cabinet position if Cropp became mayor.

Yet Orange's spirit is unrestrained. And he's having fun handing out thousands of attention-grabbing items: "Orange for Mayor" wristbands, bags of oranges and postcards detailing his accomplishments. As he campaigned in a leased Cadillac SUV, he said he was convinced that his opponents had failed to win over converts from the sizeable group of undecided but likely voters.

"In my view, they're within striking distance," Orange said. "Now people are looking at the candidates and listening to their delivery on how they're going to run the government. Most people are back to saying, 'This is anybody's race.' "

And he predicted: "Cropp and Fenty are going to start throwing bombs at each other, and I'm going to slide up the middle."

Some political activists say Orange needs to campaign more aggressively, knocking on more doors and shaking more hands. They say he has relied on catchy slogans -- such as "The three E's: education, employment and economic development" -- to capture the electorate's interest.

Pedro Alfonso, a staunch Orange supporter who tried to bring a video slots complex to Ward 5 two years ago, said Orange's words will start to resonate. But if the election were held today, he said, his candidate would be a long shot.