Fenty Goes on the Road for Obama Campaign

By David Nakamura and Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 28, 2008

During his first year in office, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty didn't look for reasons to leave the District.

He made a couple of trips to New York to visit Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I). He attended a convention of shopping center developers in Las Vegas. He took a day trip to the beach and went to the Caribbean for his annual summer vacation with his family. But, otherwise, Fenty (D) stayed put -- ever mindful of the political drubbing his predecessor, Anthony A. Williams (D), took for being a frequent flier.

Until lately, that is. In January, Fenty attended the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, as a guest of Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, who had financed a documentary about the Japanese occupation of Nanking, China.

This month, Fenty was in Newark on Super Tuesday, and in Dallas and Houston last weekend to campaign for Sen. Barack Obama. This weekend, he plans to be in Ohio for more campaigning.

When Fenty endorsed the Illinois Democrat's presidential bid in the summer at a joint appearance at a community center in Ward 6, the mayor promised to do anything to help Obama win the Democratic nomination and the White House. (Obama has promised to push for D.C. voting rights in Congress if he wins.)

So there was Fenty, knocking on doors in Houston with a camera from the Fox TV affiliate following him. "This is a campaign that is really going to change America," Fenty told the station. "The Obama campaign is not going to rest."

Washingtonians who recall Fenty's relentless two-year, door-to-door marathon to win office know his playbook well. A report on the Fox station in Houston showed Fenty, in tie and shirtsleeves (must have been warm), knocking on the door of an elderly man.

"Can we count on your support?" Fenty asked him.

"Oh, yes," the man replied.

"When you go after every vote, when you knock on every door, you not only have a much better chance of winning, but you energize people," Fenty told the Fox reporter.

In an interview, Fenty said he ran into Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who also has endorsed Obama, on the plane to Dallas. It's not clear where Fenty will appear in Ohio, the other key state that Obama and his rival, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, are contesting Tuesday. One mayoral aide suggested Fenty might return to his alma mater, Oberlin College, near Cleveland. But the mayor said Monday night that his itinerary wasn't set.

Chinatown's Fate

The State of Chinatown address -- say, what?

Since the redevelopment of Gallery Place over the past 10 years, most of what once was D.C.'s Chinese American hub has been reduced to about one block of H Street NW, between Sixth and Seventh streets.

But Alexander Chi, head of the Chinatown Revitalization Council, who has been critical of the shrinking influence of Chinese culture in Chinatown, figured it would be good to get some city officials together to address the issue head-on. Fenty, two D.C. Council members, Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), and D.C. planning director Harriet Tregoning, were joined by Taiwan representative Joseph Wu at the organization's headquarters at Fifth and I streets Monday night.

The officials didn't have a lot of meat to offer the standing-room-only crowd of about 80. They praised the area's growth into a regional entertainment hub -- Evans called it the "Times Square of D.C." -- and promised to ensure more opportunities for Chinese-American-owned businesses. Wu offered to help create a Chinese lantern festival, a custom in Taiwan.

Tregoning said the city plans to hire consultants to do a study of how to bring more culture, specifically Chinese culture, to the area.

For the most part, the crowd was good-natured, posing for pictures with the mayor and other officials. But Alfred Liu, the architect who designed the Chinese-inspired Friendship Arch that spans H Street, complained that the city "invested $75 million and not a single Chinese restaurant or store was in the development. I'm feeling sad."

Evans said: "Some would say Chinatown lost a lot of character. But the argument could be made on the other side that there's been a lot of positive changes."

Turnabout Is Fine Play

Funny how politics works.

Council member Yvette M. Alexander, who won her Ward 7 seat in last year's special election, will kick off her reelection campaign Saturday at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington's Richard England Clubhouse on Benning Road NE.

Who plans to be on hand to support Alexander? None other than two of her chief rivals from May: Victor Vandell and Greg Rhett.

Vandell, who works as chemical terrorism coordinator for the city's Department of Health, said he has heard no complaints about Alexander's performance.

"All I can do is offer support," he said. "I haven't heard anything that was damaging about what she's done so far. At this point, I'm definitely supporting her effort. We'll see what plays out down the road."

Asked for her reaction, Alexander said with a chuckle, "I'll take that as an endorsement."

Responding to a question, Alexander said her biggest accomplishment has been her resolution requiring the fire department and the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority to develop a plan to repair fire hydrants.

With more time, she said, she can do more: "There is no way your vision can be realized in 18 months."

Two More for Obama

Obama picked up a couple of more delegates from D.C. this week in his race for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Illinois senator, who swept the Potomac Primary on Feb. 12, announced Tuesday that he has been endorsed by two D.C. super delegates: shadow senators Paul Strauss and Michael D. Brown.