Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball sees a potential political pitfall for DC mayor Adrian Fenty after the city’s lackluster efforts at snow removal.
Matthews says, “This city needs a little better effort right now.”
He goes on to note that this is an election year.
“I’ve watched the big cities where mayors lose their jobs over stuff like this… It’s time for competition in the next primary.”
Fenty, who was first elected in 2006 and won every precinct in the city, has suffered from a serious of gaffes and hubris. A recent Washington Post poll revealed Fenty’s approval rating at 42%, while 49% disapprove of the job he’s doing.
At present Fenty has no challengers. DC Council Chair Vincent Gray is considering a bid. Millionaire developer R. Donahue Peebles, who last year talked about running but pulled back for family reasons, is re-considering.
DC political consultant Chuck Thies doesn’t quite agree with Matthews, but sees problems ahead for Fenty. “Chris Matthews pays attention to the White House and Capitol Hill, not local DC politics. It’s not the snow that is Fenty’s problem, it’s Fenty himself. He ran as a populist and a hands-on public official. That ended soon after he was sworn in and was replaced with arrogance and aloofness. Add to that some very real concerns that he’s handing out city contracts to his personal friends, plus a poor relationship with local press, and you’ve got the perfect formula for toppling a once-popular incumbent. All this race needs is a viable candidate with the guts to jump in.”
As you may of heard by now, conservative columnist and DoubleSpeak avoider Robert Novak was involved in a hit-and-almost-run this morning in downtown Washington, DC. Novak, who was driving a black Corvette convertible at the time apparently “didn’t know he hit” the pedestrian and according to media accounts was pretty “shaken.”
“I didn’t know I hit him. I feel terrible,†a shaken Novak told reporters from Politico and WJLA as he was returning to his car. “He’s not dead, that’s the main thing.” Novak said he was a block away from 18th and K streets Northwest, where the accident occurred, when a bicyclist stopped him and said, “You hit someone.” He said he was cited for failing to yield the right of way.
The bicyclist was David Bono, a partner at Harkins Cunningham, who was on his usual bike commute to work at 1700 K St. N.W. when he witnessed the accident.
DoubleSpeak readers should be very familiar with Robert Novak. Remember back in January when he refused to answer Matthew’s question about the GOP primary campaign? In case you missed it, here is that video again:
I work nearby, so I just went downstairs to the scene of the accident and snapped this photo on my blackberry:
Lastly, here is some news footage from the scene:
“He’s not dead, that’s the main thing.” –Robert Novak
While things have been a bit slow here at DoubleSpeak so far this summer, rest assured that we will be back with new episodes very soon featuring some outstanding candidates from around the country. One of these candidates that we’re tremendously excited about is Darcy Burner, the Democratic challenger in the Washington 8th congressional district. If you don’t already know Darcy, you’re going to love her.
Not only is she a great candidate, she’s also looking more and more like a winner. With the second quarter fundraising numbers in, Burner is outraising her opponent, has more cash on hand, and is gathering some serious momentum.
Democratic challenger Darcy Burner reports $590,561 in contributions compared to GOP incumbent Rep. Dave Reichert’s $569,077.
What with a nearly unprecedented presidential visit and numerous other high profile fundraisers, I had just assumed Reichert would significantly outraise Burner in the second quarter, and to be honest, I was all prepared to spin a good second-place showing by Burner into a rhetorical victory. Now that I don’t have to, I’m virtually speechless.
And once again Burner spent less to raise more, closing the all important cash-on-hand gap to about $340,000. Burner now sits on $770,000 in reserves compared to Reichert’s $1.11 million.
This was Burner’s most impressive fundraising quarter to date, and according to the DCCC her $1.13 million total thus far puts her in the top fundraising tier for Democratic House challengers nationwide.
We’ll have more on Darcy Burner soon but in the meantime, you can volunteer or contribute to help the campaign.
Since the 2000 election, issues surrounding the way Americans vote have been brought to light. The New York Times took on this issue yesterday in an editorial called Block The Vote.
If you haven’t had a chance to read it, check out what different state legislatures are doing to limit the rights of Americans when it comes to having full access to voting.
Florida recently reached a new low when it actually bullied the League of Women Voters into stopping its voter registration efforts in the state. The Legislature did this by adopting a law that seems intended to scare away anyone who wants to run a voter registration drive. Since registration drives are particularly important for bringing poor people, minority groups and less educated voters into the process, the law appears to be designed to keep such people from voting.
