City's Latest Blockbuster: The Great Space Battle

So what is Johnson's strategy? He's hoping his water will help him make a splash. He had 2,016 bottles of natural spring water shipped from Chatsworth, Ga., and they are getting into the hands of residents entering or leaving the Metro or Safeway.

"We tested it out at the Metro," Johnson said.

The 16.9-ounce clear bottles are decorated with white labels with blue and red writing bearing Johnson's campaign office phone number, Web site and slogan, "Building Bridges and Connecting People."

Wait, that sounds familiar.

"Building Bridges, Finding Solutions" is council member Harry Thomas Jr.'s (D-Ward 5) signature slogan, still used as a sign-off on his voice-mail messages.

Johnson said, "So?"

Bottled water is also familiar. Anthony A. Williams (D) distributed it to inform the public that he was a write-in candidate in the 2002 mayoral race after he was infamously knocked off the ballot because some signatures on his nominating petition were deemed invalid.

Johnson, 31, said he is an organizational development consultant and a fourth-generation Washingtonian. His grandfather was the late Johnnie Johnson, a friend of council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and a freelance photographer who died in 1996 after he fell from a boat during a cruise for Barry's birthday party.

"That tragedy kind of turned off this generation [of the family] from politics," Johnson said.

He apparently is the exception. He said that Ward 7 residents are hungry for economic development and jobs, and that he wants to provide them as a council member.