Preserving a Mayor's Legacy

Without the written tests administered on computers, and the road tests, which require the drivers to use vehicles with center emergency brakes, the District still has the "toughest process for seniors," Graham said.

The city requires a physician's certification, vision and reflex tests.

"Nobody has this much," Graham said. "Even without these two tests, we have a tougher standard. Why should we make it tougher?"

Something to Sing About

Muriel Bowser's campaign workers began gathering for the after-party shortly after 8 p.m. on the evening of last week's special election for the D.C. Council.

The location was the back yard of the home of Darrell Wiggins, Bowser's campaign director, in Northwest Washington. The food was a buffet of chicken and salad and beers. The music was soul and a little R&B. The mood was festive: The more than 60 people in attendance assumed their candidate had won.

About 1 1/2 hours later, they were proved right. Bowser easily defeated the other candidates to serve the remainder of Fenty's term as the Ward 4 representative on the council.

That's when the celebrating began. Wiggins announced the results by leaping onto a lawn chair and throwing his hands in the air.

"Muriel wins!" he shouted, to cheers and applause. "We're going to celebrate," he added. "We're going to have a good time!"

Moments later, Bowser arrived to chants of "Mur-i-el! Mur-i-el!"

But the best was yet to come. Shirleta Settles, a precinct captain for Bowser's campaign, grabbed a microphone from the deejay and started singing a personalized version of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely."

Sample lyric: "Isn't she love-ly? She's so hard wor-king. There's no one bet-ter, Muriel for Ward 4."

Settles said she had been singing the customized piece for the entire campaign as a sort-of theme song. Looks like it worked.