Fenty Seeks Tips From Big-City Mayors

Trudell, a pilot who takes aerial photographs of Vermont that appear on postcards, used to live in Washington. He drove a cab for 10 years, so he said he knows about the District's struggle for statehood.

While he's pushing voting rights, he has also proposed a transportation plan for Vermont that includes his driving a bus when Congress is in recess.

But in the interest of D.C. residents, he said if elected, "I will meet immediately with the D.C. Statehood people. I would try to bring national attention to the issue."

Roasting the Mayor

Will NBC4 political reporter Tom Sherwood receive all of Mayor Anthony A. Williams 's frequent flier miles as reward for serving as master of ceremonies at a Oct. 18 roast of Hizzoner?

The mayor's penchant for travel is a likely target at the gala benefiting Southeastern University. As the first local reporter to hammer away at the mayor's frequent trips out of town, Sherwood has gotten plenty of mileage out of Williams's eight years as mayor. Williams leaves office Dec. 31.

Also scheduled to appear at the roast are Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and George Washington University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg . D.C. Council members David A. Catania (I-At Large) and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) are on the list, as well as the man Williams insisted wasn't ready to be mayor, Adrian M. Fenty.

Fenty won the Sept. 12 Democratic primary despite (or because of?) Williams's endorsement of Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp .

D.C. Politics Charms

HBO's "The Wire" takes place in nearby Charm City -- Baltimore, for the uninitiated -- but an episode that premiered Sunday night made reference to a storied strategy in D.C. politics.

In the cable TV drama, the fictional incumbent mayor, Clarence V. Royce, is locked in a tight Democratic primary race with black council member Tony Gray and white council member Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti.

Royce, who is black, and his political advisers worry that Hizzoner and Gray might split the majority-black city's vote, allowing Carcetti to win. So Royce's chief of staff encourages him to make efforts to rally his black political base, showing him red-green- and black-striped campaign posters with Royce's picture above the slogan that Royce "makes us proud."

Royce frowns at the African nationalist-themed posters. "You want me to start wearing dashikis? Go all Marion Barry . . . ?" asked Royce, referring to the four-time D.C. mayor and current Ward 8 council member's dashiki-outfitted mayoral comeback win in 1994.

Staff writers Nikita Stewart and Yolanda Woodlee contributed to this report.