By Yolanda Woodlee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 15, 2006; B01
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.
"He's playing catch-up," Alfonso said. But "there's a quiet uncommitted voter bloc whose going to turn to Orange. If citizens compare substance with fluff, Vincent can bring a lot to the table. Orange can deliver."
Orange, an Oakland, Calif., native, is married to Gwendolyn Evans-Orange, a D.C. public school teacher. The couple, who met at Howard University while Orange was attending law school, have three children. He has worked as a lawyer for the D.C. government, and he is a certified public accountant. Before being elected to the council in 1998, he was chief financial officer for the National Children's Center.
In Orange's Chinatown campaign office, dubbed Club Orange because of its bright neon sign, a large cardboard map pinpoints some of the Ward 5 development projects in which he played a key role: the arrival of Home Depot and a Giant supermarket, the restoration of McKinley Technical High School and the construction of three recreation centers.
As chairman of the council's Committee on Government Operations, Orange investigated the activities of several city officials, including the mayor, whom he questioned under oath about funneling of money by his aides through nonprofit groups. He challenged the qualifications of former inspector general Charles C. Maddox and held hearings on the city's contracting practices and unauthorized spending in the city's technology office.
Orange also pushed to bring Major League Baseball to Washington, steadfastly supporting the mayor's efforts to lure a team and build a stadium. And he boasts that as part of that deal, he secured millions for schools, libraries and laptop computers. Orange said that a bill that created Emancipation Day, a city holiday that recognizes the freeing of slaves in the District, was his prized legislation.
Orange is optimistic that support will mushroom as voters begin to examine his record.
He noted that he is plodding along like Sharon Pratt did in 1990, when she won the mayor's race after trailing in the polls and in contributions. And he noted that Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced his candidacy four months before he won the 1998 primary.
Williams seemed to come close to endorsing Orange, saying at Orange's birthday party at a Georgetown home in April that "green means go, and now Orange means go." Guests whispered that it sounded like a tepid endorsement, but Williams said he was just showing respect to "a good friend and partner in government."
Despite Orange's allegiance to the mayor, Williams later endorsed Cropp.
Being an underdog is not new to Orange. In his first campaign, 16 years ago, he lost a contest for council chairman against the popular veteran member John A. Wilson. He lost again in a special election to replace Wilson three years later. Orange also lost his first campaign for the Ward 5 seat, in 1994, against Harry Thomas Sr. Four years later, he won.
"I'm used to coming from behind and being the underdog and then winning," Orange said. "I believe Fenty has peaked. Everybody's going down. There's nowhere for me to go but up."