Driving Home His Candidacy

During last week's presidential primary, the "Draft Michael Brown" campaign handed out 10,000 pieces of literature at 80 precincts.

Gerri Adams-Simmons, a Ward 4 civic activist, said she is part of a movement pushing Brown to run for a citywide seat. "You have a number of people trying to get him to run," Adams-Simmons said, adding that there was a draft party for Brown at Dwayne Revis's home that drew "folks who want him to run at-large and some who want him for Ward 4."

Brown said he has met with residents in all eight wards but will not make up his mind until next month. A lifelong Democrat, Brown is considering running as an independent in the general election in November, avoiding a potential primary battle against Kwame Brown.

"I obviously haven't committed, but they're trying to put pressure on me to run at-large," Michael Brown said. "If I were to run, I wouldn't be running against anyone in particular. I'd just be running for one of the two at-large seats. But I'm not there."

A Sweet Spot in Southeast

Good news for the District's former first lady Cora Masters Barry: Her efforts to create the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center, as well as to nurture students there, have earned her a coveted place in tennis history.

Barry, the estranged wife of former mayor and D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), was inducted into the Mid Atlantic Tennis & Education Foundation Hall of Fame Saturday night at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington.

Barry said she was honored and surprised to be recognized for doing the work she loves. "When you do something from your heart, you never expect it to result in something like this," she said Tuesday.

The center was Barry's brainchild after Marion Barry won his fourth term as mayor in 1995. Cora Barry founded the Recreation Wish List Committee, the group that raised money and built the center with 10 tennis courts and five classrooms. She created the Wish List panel with $100,000 left over from Barry's inaugural funds.

Under the administration of former mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), the city helped finance the $5.1 million facility on Mississippi Avenue SE. More than 17 participants at the center have earned college tennis scholarships. During the past decade, Barry has raised an average of $300,000 a year from area companies and foundations to renovate buildings and playgrounds for children's recreational activities.

The nonprofit Mid Atlantic Tennis & Education Foundation supports tennis and education programs for financially disadvantaged youth living in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and the District.

Obama's D.C. Sweep

As if it needed to be said after his landslide Democratic presidential primary victory in the District last week, Illinois Sen. Obama swept rival New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in all eight wards. He won more than 80 percent in wards 4, 5, 7 and 8. Clinton fared best in wards 2 and 3. Among Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain won each ward handily except Ward 7, where former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won 58 to 57, and Ward 8, where McCain eked it out 36 to 35.

Here is the vote breakdown between Obama and Clinton:

Ward 1: 9,494 to 3,718; Ward 2: 7,091 to 4,141; Ward 3: 10,268 to 6,127; Ward 4: 15,772 to 3,785; Ward 5: 13,561 to 2,597; Ward 6: 10,658 to 3,985; Ward 7: 12,946 to 2,144; and Ward 8: 9,442 to 1,366.