Driving Home His Candidacy

By Nikita Stewart and Yolanda Woodlee
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 21, 2008

It's "Pimp My Ride" -- D.C. Council campaign style.

Let us explain that we're taking the title of the popular MTV show in which people get their dilapidated cars rehabilitated in a, um, flashy, eye-catching manner.

In this case, it's Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) who has a new look for his ride -- a 2003 GMC Savannah van decorated for his reelection bid. We're talking bright blue, with his name and logo in big, bold lettering.

Candidates in this year's Democratic primary do not have to file petitions to qualify until June 2. So far, campaign finance records do not show anyone mounting a challenge to Brown, and newcomer Adam Clampitt says he will run at-large as an independent.

But Brown is taking no chances in trying to spread the word about his bid. He was spotted in the "Kwamemobile" (our term) at the Eastern Market Metro last week when Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) were glad-handing, and outside Sharpe Health School later, when the mayor showed up to vote.

"Man, that thing is slick," marveled council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D).

Brown said he knows it's a bit flashy, but he also said it's not unusual for him. In 2004, during his first campaign, Brown had a U.S. postal truck plastered with his campaign signs. "This time I decided I would do something different," he said. "The mail truck couldn't hold all my supplies. I have ladders, poles, signs. It kind of makes things easier."

The van used to be the family vehicle for the married father of two. The "wraparound" advertising can be removed after the election.

Brown calls it "the people's mobile."

Send us your ideas for a name. Write to stewartn@washpost.com, and we will post the best monikers in the Notebook.

Remember, this is a family newspaper.

Another Round for Brown?

Lobbyist Michael A. Brown, who dropped out of the mayor's race in 2006 and waged a losing campaign for the Ward 4 council seat last year, said that he is "taking a close look" this month at the council's at-large races against Kwame Brown and Carol Schwartz (R).

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.