The Associated Press just “called” the D.C. Democratic Primary for Vincent Gray. Via NBC4:
With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Gray held about a 53-46 percent lead (59,285 votes to 50,850 votes) over incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty.
“Tonight the people of the District sent a message loud and clear that they want to bring character, integrity and leadership back to the mayor’s office,” Gray told his supporters just before 2 a.m. Wednesday. ”It’s time that we come together as one city.”
Over in Ward 8, when the The Advoc8te, who blogs at Congress Heights on the Rise tried to vote today, she encountered this drama, involving an ANC Commissioner, two police cars and allegations of electioneering:
On my way into the elementary school I did see Commissioner Mary Cuthbert (8C03) (she of the n-word infamy) sitting alongside the fence directly in front of her the school in support of her candidate (Gray) and clutching some “Gray for Mayor” t-shirts… It seems Mary was clearly (and I mean clearly) within the “campaigning free zone” which had been indicated by very direct signage advising there would be no campaigning beyond that point.
…The polling station manager asked Ms. Cuthbert to please move farther down the fence beyond the posted signs – she refused. He asked again and she refused again stating that the law is she can’t be within 50 feet of the door so she didn’t care where he put the signs she wasn’t moving (please note: all the other campaigners stayed outside of the campaign free zone). At some point William Lockridge got involved and he started yelling at the polling manager and getting up in his face and someone called the police.
GLAA
GLAA Ratings
It’s finally election day in Washington, D.C. (and Maryland).
With all the attempts– and by this I mostly mean television ads– to frame Mayoral challenger Vincent Gray as regressive and old skool, I found it interesting that GLAA, The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C., gave Gray a score that was twice as high as Adrian Fenty’s on their primary ratings, a screen shot of which is to the right.
Fenty disagrees with GLAA on a number of issues, and his record is mixed. While his administration led the exceptional legal fight to keep and defend our marriage rights; they also spent nearly two years obstructing the Domestic Partnership Judicial Determination of Parentage Act, which is now a model law protecting the rights and responsibilities of LGBT parents. We were struck by the numerous promises made four years ago that were promptly broken.
In a Washington Post article about the challenges of being a Muslim candidate for office right now (fasting for Ramadan on a campaign schedule? Difficult.), we find an update to the Saqib Ali/Nancy King story we blogged about this week. On the question of whether her campaign materials used an image of her opponent, State Delegate Saqib Ali, which had been altered to make his complexion darker, Maryland State Senator Nancy King elaborated on the denial her campaign provided to us on Wednesday:
…there was “absolutely no offense meant by it.”
“I’m not sure what happened with it. It could have been an error in our proofing. It could have been a printing error,” King said. “He infers that I did that to make his skin look dark. That’s not what this campaign has been about from the get-go. We live in a very diverse district and we don’t even need to go in that direction.”
j_mills
Believe it or not, this is graffiti in Atlanta.
WAMU 88.5′s The Kojo Nnamdi Show and The City Paper collaborated on a poll of registered voters, asking them about the obvious (Mayoral candidates) and the not-so-obvious (“Mayor For Life” Marion Barry).
While a lot of the Twitterati are focusing on Vince Gray’s 50-39 lead over Adrian Fenty, I’d like to highlight this, from the WCP:
One question looked at yet another polarizing figure in D.C. politics: former Mayor Marion Barry, now a Ward 8 councilmember.
- 20 percent said Barry “should be respected as ‘Mayor for Life’ and celebrated as a civil rights hero.”
- 36 percent said Barry “should remain in politics as long as he likes and is re-elected.”
- 32 percent said Barry “should retire gracefully and go away from public life.”
- 7 percent said Barry “should still be in jail.”
5 percent weren’t sure what they thought of him.
This afternoon, I wrote about a piece of campaign literature from Maryland State Senator Nancy King, which featured a picture of King’s opponent, State Delegate Saqib Ali sporting a noticeably darker complexion. I wondered if the picture had been photoshopped, but the King campaign denied editing the image in any way.
I called Ali to tell him about his opponent’s denial. This was his response:
It’s plain for anyone to see, if you put them next to each other. It’s very obvious. I don’t know why they did it, it doesn’t make sense. I wouldn’t expect this kind of behavior from any Montgomery County Democrat. I think she owes everyone a real explanation, not just an evasion. Voters should wonder why they are doctoring photos in this way and why she won’t come clean.
The questionable image I asked about...
Earlier today, I wrote about a piece of campaign literature currently circulating in Maryland from State Senator Nancy King, featuring what looks like a photoshopped picture of her opponent, State Delegate Saqib Ali. In it, Ali’s skin looks visibly darker. I contacted the King campaign to ask about it and this is what they had to say:
First off, at no time, in any way whatsoever, did we, or would we, alter photos or attempt to insinuate anything about Delegate Saqib Ali other than the verified facts we have consistently laid out through this campaign — the fact that he fell asleep and missed a crucial vote on education funding, and the fact that he broke his promise to reject special interest funding and then accepted $50,000 in corporate and PAC money.
That’s interesting, and I’m grateful they took the time to respond, but if they didn’t alter photos, then why does the picture of Ali look like it’s a recolored, mirror-image of the other photograph in the mailer? Curiouser and curiouser…
I spy, with my brown eye…some photoshopping.
.
We’re in the thick of campaign season and while I tend to focus on the Mayoral race or candidates with confusing names here in the District, last night I saw something eye-catching from Maryland, where State Delegate Saqib Ali is challenging State Senator Nancy King to represent the 39th district.
What you see to the right is a mailer that King sent out to potential voters about Ali. I saw it and had flashbacks to O.J. Simpson’s infamous mug shot, on the cover of Time magazine. I thought of that moment in magazine history because of the striking change in Ali’s complexion. Now, it is entirely possible that in four years, Saqib Ali got some sun. Also possible? That whoever designed this flier used the same photograph, but flipped it directionally, recolored the suit…and Saqib’s face. There’s only one way to find out– I just reached out to the King campaign for comment. Continue reading
Have you seen “Formerly Fenty“? It’s an offshoot of Vince Gray’s campaign site featuring voters who were once fans of our current Mayor. Most interesting/potentially damning? The videos from two ex-Fenty staffers, who describe their issues with their erstwhile boss. Here’s his quondam Deputy Chief of Staff, Neil Richardson:
KC Ivey
Vince Gray at Busboys and Poets, last year.
On TBD’s “NewsTalk“, Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh just endorsed Vince Gray for Mayor.
I haven’t taken a formal position on the Mayor’s race, but I’ve been asked by many many people how I’m going to vote and I can tell you I did vote yesterday– I voted for myself– but I voted for Vince Gray.
And I’m going to support Vince Gray and I hope the residents of my ward and around the district also support Vince Gray because I think having worked with him over the past four years, shoulder-to-shoulder, I have become an admirer and I was someone who came skeptically to him because I supported his opponent when he ran for chair. But he’s a man of integrity, he’s thoughtful he’s intelligent and he’ll be a leader, the kind of leader that we need now.
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