Washington, D.C. — As the mayoral election between Washington, D.C.'s top two Democratic candidates — Adrian Fenty and Vince Gray — heads into its last weeks, TBD will be tracking away. Herewith, all the controversy, debates, forums, polls, issues, endorsements, statistics and killer quotes we can muster. Find today's coverage here.

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Tuesday, Sept. 7, 5:17 p.m.

BREAKING NEWS ALERT: RON MOTEN, MARION BARRY TO (MAYBE?) MEET IN TELEVISED DEBATE, MAKE TBD'S DREAMS COME TRUE

You guys! It's impossible to use too many exclamation points in this post! There is no way to oversell this!

Via the Washington Post:

"Peaceoholics co-founder Ronald Moten, a strategist and friend of the mayor's, tells D.C. Wire he will debate D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) on Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m. on Fox 5 news about the mayor's race. Fox 5 has confirmed the time."

OK, so the Post notes that it hasn't heard from Barry yet, so I guess they are a little unclear as to whether this is actually happening? We can't tell, but TBD remains optimistic!

So put the kids to bed early, Washington, because this promises to be an important television event. We hope Marion Barry wears a cape and/or Ron Moten has entrance music, just like professional wrestlers. Might we suggest "Enter Sandman."

You know what is kind of sad, though? Adrian Fenty and Vince Gray just debated on Fox 5. We had the real candidates, talking about the real issues, and it was kind of stale. And now here we are, just a days from the primary date, talking about a sideshow. Is this what it's come to, Washington? Shouldn't we want more, as voters? Shouldn't we demand it?

Yeah, that's what we thought. We like this better, too.

— @slarimer

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 4:19 p.m.

VINCE GRAY AND THE TEA PARTY

I have a story up comparing the coalition supporting Vince Gray's mayoral run to the coalition backing the Tea Party movement. There's as many differences as there are similarities, but I think a definite line can be drawn connecting the motivations of the two groups.

Still, I welcome dissent from the idea. Feel free to e-mail or tweet your reactions, or to leave a comment on the post.

—@kevinrobillard

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 11:25 a.m.

GRAY CAMPAIGN: FENTY'S EARLY VOTE TOTAL PROBABLY SLIGHTLY HIGHER

Vince Gray campaign adviser Mo Elleithee on Tuesday told reporters that the campaign of incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty probably has a "small lead" in early primary voting.

"We think they probably have a slight lead in the early vote," Elleithee said on a conference call. "But I don't think it's as big as they think it is."

Elleithee said the Gray campaign is confident that its get-out-the-vote effort is stronger than Fenty's, and they expect to benefit from a large turnout on primary day.

"What matters is where we are at the end of the voting period, when the polls close on Sept. 14," Elleithee said.

Of the four new polling centers that opened over the weekend, most of the voters visited the Chevy Chase Community Center in Northwest D.C. The area is generally considered Fenty's territory. Early voting began Aug. 30.

"I don't know how anybody determines how we have a slight lead or not," Fenty campaign spokesman Sean Madigan said. "If they're looking at stations where we think we might have a higher number of supporters, I guess that's one way to look at it, but I don't think anybody know who is ahead. All we know is that X number of people went to polling places and cast their ballots."

When asked about the early voting edge, Gray campaign spokeswoman Traci Hughes declined to elaborate, saying that it would be "revealing strategy."

Gray's campaign will be targeting former Fenty supporters and will also have a "voter protection team" at the polls, Elleithee said.

"It's all about turnout now," he said. "Both campaigns are hustling to get out the vote and speak to the remaining undecided voters. We are certainly not taking anything for granted and are running our operation like we're five points behind. Having said that, we do feel good about where we are."

In the coming days, Gray's campaign will work to bring in voters who supported Fenty during his first mayoral run but were left unsatisfied after his first term. The Gray campaign has launched a website that targets residents who are considering switching their vote or are still undecided.

"This is going to be a major effort of ours over the final week," Elleithee said.

A recent Washington Post poll indicated that Gray had a 17-point lead (53 to 36 percent) among residents most likely to vote in the Democratic primary. Fenty's Green Team is a political machine, though and he holds a significant fundraising edge.

— @slarimer

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 11:18 a.m.

CONTINUED ADVENTURES IN CRONYISM

If you live in the District of Columbia, there is an (guesstimated!) 82 percent chance you are a crony of Adrian Fenty or Vince Gray.

Today, the Washington Times' Jeffrey Anderson has a report on how basically every last one of Vince Gray's friends could financially benefit from a Gray mayoralty. Aren't you just so excited to vote for one of these guys?

—@kevinrobillard

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 10:30 a.m.

GRAY, FENTY LAG IN POLICY PLANNING

On Friday, Vince Gray released his public safety plan, following up on plans he already released for education and economic development. While the council chairman can occasionally get wonky enough to leave reporters baffled, he's been far less detailed than either mayoral campaign was four years ago.

Adrian Fenty has been even more circumspect. His promise is simple: a kinder, gentler version of his first four-year term. The campaign’s website lacks an ‘Issues’ tab altogether, instead showing off the more concrete ‘Results for Your Ward.’

Political campaigns, as a species, tend not to focus on the gritty details of governance (See Cuomo, Mario). Still, when compared to the 2006 race between Fenty and then-Council Chair and Linda Cropp, this year’s race is clearly lacking concrete policy promises. By the end of March 2006, then-candidate Fenty had 12 plans for confronting various issues available on his website, which we accessed using the always-handy Internet Archive. On the September 3 version of the site, he had those same 12 plans, along with seven more detailed plans on education, health care, the environment, affordable housing, public safety, and “empowering women and girls.” Cropp also had seven plans, focusing on education, affordable housing, public safety, jobs, diversity and the fight for voting rights.

So while the media (and the campaigns) focus on the contrasting styles of the two candidates, neither candidate has talked extensively about how they would improve the under-fire Metro system. Discussion of how to close a still enormous achievement gap in D.C. schools usually devolves into arguing about Michelle Rhee. Fenty has skipped issue-centric debates on HIV/AIDS and education. And even the dozen or more times the mayor and Gray have debated, they generally repeat the same tired arguments.

In their radio and TV ads — which are seen by much broader audiences than any straw poll, forum or debate — the two candidates have focused either on mudslinging or personal style. The incumbent began his apology tour with a series of ads in which Fenty-friendly Washingtonians rebutted common critiques of his mayoralty. More recent ads have attacked Gray’s leadership of the Department of Human Services in the early 1990s. Gray’s sole television ad ripped Fenty for supporting ‘cronyism.’

Fenty Campaign spokesman Sean Madigan said the campaign didn't feel the need to produce an additional round of plans on top of what Fenty put out in 2006, and on top of what he's done with four years under his belt.

"We've done a lot in those general directions," Madigan said. "A lot of these things go beyond a four-year time frame."

The mayor might feel also not feel a need to shift policies at all. A poll released last week by the Washington Post found about two-thirds of voters felt Fenty had "brought needed change to the District." And District voters who thought life had improved under Fenty outnumbered those who thought it had gotten worse by more than a 2:1 ratio.

"We're choosing to release those platforms based on what the most pressing issues are for residents of the District," Hughes said. "[Gray] has laid out plans that are more substantial than anything Mayor Fenty has put out."

Gray plans to release his government transparency plan later this week.

—@kevinrobillard

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 9:44 a.m.

TBD'S BRUCE DEPUYT TRAILS GRAY AT EASTERN MARKET

Bruce DePuyt, host of TBD's NewsTalk, was with Vince Gray this weekend when the mayoral hopeful campaigned in Eastern Market.

"Gray spent two hours at Eastern Market, and in that time he walked approximately one city block," DePuyt notes on his blog. "Not that he had somewhere to go. Shaking hands and talking with people enjoying a beautiful day at the sun-splashed market, on the middle day of a long holiday weekend, was precisely what his campaign had in mind."

You can find the full post on Bruce's NewsTalk blog.

— @slarimer

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 9:15 a.m.

IS A LIFE WITHOUT MICHELLE RHEE ANY LIFE AT ALL?

Over at the Washington Post, Bill Turque takes a look at what might happen to D.C. public schools and education reform in the District if DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee were to leave.

Rhee has strongly suggested that she wouldn't be able to work in a Vince Gray administration. Gray has not committed to keeping Rhee at her post, saying he will make that decision after the election.

— @slarimer

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 7:33 a.m.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER EDITORIAL BOARD BACKS FENTY

The Washington Examiner editorial board says Mayor Adrian Fenty deserves four more years in office.

“It’s time to look at the candidates with clear eyes, putting aside the false, rumor-driven notion that one black candidate is friendlier to African-Americans than the other black candidate, and that progress is something that benefits only a few wards in the District,” the Examiner's endorsement editorial states. “All residents benefit from a safe and well-run city.”

The editorial called Vince Gray, Fenty's main challenger in the primary a "capable public servant," but the Examiner editorial board found "no compelling reason to elect him."

“Moreover, there is no reason to fix what is not broken in the areas of crime, fiscal management, city services and economic development," the editorial reads. "Most importantly, in education, there is no need to break what is finally being fixed after all these years.”

The Washington Post has also endorsed Fenty.

— @slarimer

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 7:27 a.m.

WUSA SITS DOWN WITH FENTY FAMILY

Michelle and Adrian Fenty sat down with WUSA to discuss the primary election and the mayor's problematic poll numbers.

Michelle Fenty, who on Wednesday grew emotional when she addressed the waning support for her husband, continued to defend the mayor in an interview with WUSA’s Bruce Johnson.

“I’m hearing people describe my husband using adjectives that are absolutely shocking,” Michelle Fenty said.

The full video (including a cameo appearance from wee Aerin Fenty) is below:

 

— @slarimer

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 6:16 a.m.

AT EARLY VOTING CENTER, FENTY RALLIES SUPPORT

Mayor Adrian Fenty rallied supporters at the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center on Monday morning, and your intrepid TBD reporter tagged along because she didn’t have anything better to do at 9 a.m. on Labor Day. Just kidding. She was interested in The Democratic Process!

The highlights are presented below, in list form. Today’s bonus: A photo slideshow created by yours truly. Disclaimer, all shots were taken with an iPhone. So, you know, don’t expect Ansel Adams here. In this reporter’s opinion, the best shot is the last one. Yes, I strategically placed that one at the end so you would have to look at all the other ones too. Clever, right?

Adrian Fenty arrived: Wearing bright green polo and tan suit, the jacket of which was promptly removed. Two BlackBerrys on the belt. Third was in the Smart car, he said.

The doughnuts: Dunkin’, natch.

The Fenty crowd: Pretty young. Many appeared to be Howard University students. Outnumbered Vince Gray’s people. Really into chanting, Adrian Fenty, and team huddles.

The Washington Post: was there, too.

Best moment: That time when Adrian Fenty’s rally got kicked out of the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center parking lot by a security guard. Pretty funny, but the throng of Fenty’s campaigners was blocking traffic so it was a justifiable compliant by the guard. The rally relocated (without protest) to a nearby patch of grass and perhaps it move worked out better for Fenty. His voice echoed throughout the park, and he didn’t tick off any residents trying to navigate their way to the early voting center.

Most awkward moment: That time when a woman who said she was a former employee of the Department of Parks and Recreation confronted Fenty about losing her job. Not surprisingly, the woman, who had her young daughter in tow, later told TBD that she had voted for Gray.

Most confusing moment: That time when there was a rowdy squabble between Fenty supporters and Gray’s volunteers. Voices were raised. Campaign signs were thrust about. People were apparently VERY insulted. TBD still isn't sure exactly what happened. We wasn't standing next to the group when the quarrel initially started, so we aren't exactly sure what was said. We also don't think our iPhone camera captured that magical moment, so it is not in the slideshow. You should still take a look.

 

— @slarimer

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 5:55 a.m.

EARLY VOTING CONTINUES OVER LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Good morning, Washington! Did you vote yet? Many people did this weekend, including Ward 6 councilmember Tommy Wells.

Four new early voting centers opened in the District over the weekend, at Chevy Chase Community Center, Hine Junior High School, Southeast Tennis and Learning Center, and Turkey Thicket Recreation Center. The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics has a handy map for voters, in case you are considering casting your ballot.

Thousands of residents headed out to the early voting centers over the long weekend, reports board spokeswoman Alysoun McLaughlin. According to the board:

• More than 3,400 voters visited early voting locations Saturday
• More than 2,500 voters came to early voting centers Monday
• More than 3,400 voters showed up at One Judiciary Square in the first week of early voting

A disclaimer: the numbers listed above reflect only those who came through the doors of the voting centers, and not everyone who took a number actually ended up casting a ballot. So the actual voting total will be lower, according to McLaughlin.

— @slarimer