Thoughts on the election?

[Chathamization]

I’m not terribly excited about the mayoral race; Bowser and Catania seem pretty similar, and Schwartz doesn’t seem to have a chance. I’m somewhat hoping Bowser wins just so we can get her out of Ward 4 (and maybe have Rev. Hagler take her place).

For the at-large race I’ve been supporting Silverman, who’s a good progressive. It’s going to be tough, though; White definitely feels like the establishment candidate, and he’s been getting quite a bit of money and now has three councilmember endorsements. White doesn’t seem to be too bad, so I’m not going to be devastated if he gets in, but Silverman is a much better progressive in my opinion and I really hope she wins.

I’m leaning towards Zukerberg for attorney general. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t even be having this election; the anti-democratic council would have been successful in their efforts to snuff it out. He’s also been a good fighter for legalization.
What are everyone else’s thoughts on the election?

[elleng]

1. GIVE her a chance!

'She lost to Marion Barry in the 1986 mayor’s race but won 42,354 votes. She challenged him again in 1994, losing again, but capturing 76,902 votes.

In her two losing bids against Anthony Williams, in 1998 and 2002, Schwartz racked up 42,280 votes and 45,407 votes, respectively.

Even running as a write-in candidate in the 2008 general election for at-large council, which she was forced to do after losing the Republican primary to Patrick Mara, Schwartz still won 39,493 votes. Mara, who had the Republican line on the ballot, got only 37,447. . .

Schwartz, undoubtedly, has the life experiences to work in the racially, socially and ideologically diverse stew that is our nation’s capital.

She’s also encountered her share of bears in the woods — anti-Semitism during her Midland, Tex., childhood, the agony of a husband’s sudden death, being a single mom having to make a living while guiding three children through the D.C. public schools and on to adulthood. Along the way, she’s enjoyed both political victories and bitter betrayals.

The words tough, courageous and compassionate fit Schwartz like a glove. She is one candidate who can claim to be “unbought and unbossed.” Nobody pulls her strings.

And after close to 30 years of casual observation, this much I can say: Right or wrong matters to Carol Schwartz.

In this city, that’s saying a lot.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/colbert-king-carol-schwartz-proves-shes-no-empty-suit/2014/08/15/919391b0-23c1-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html

[Chathamization]

2. I have a generally favorable impression of Schwartz. But I don’t see how she can win.

Bowser is the definite favorite. She’s the Democratic nominee, has raised the most so far (over twice as much as Catania; more than 20 times as much as Schwartz), has a strong campaign (coming off of the victory over Gray), and seems to have a decent number of volunteers. Catania seems to be doing decently well, all things considered. He’s definitely running a viable campaign, and anecdotally I’ve heard of a number of people mention that they’re thinking about him – but I don’t think it will be enough. He was setting himself up to run against Gray, and would have had a pretty decent chance if he had, considering Gray’s problems.

And Schwartz? She entered late, is far behind the others in funds (and, it seems, volunteers), hasn’t had any important endorsements from what I’ve seen, and has been out of office for 6 years. I imagine she’ll get some votes from people that remember her time on the council and liked her. But if it’s difficult for Catania to win, it’s hard to imagine how Schwartz would win. She’s definitely playing the role of the third-party candidate in this election.

The map is also going to make it particularly difficult for Catania and Schwartz. In order to win, they’re going to either have to do much better than Bowser in the areas where she performed best during the primaries, or do much better than her in areas where they have historically done the worst. A lot of the people that they would have needed to win have already been won over by Bowser during the primaries (granted, there are a lot of people who didn’t vote, and Ward 3 seems to have a lot of Republicans).

Like I said, though, I’m mostly excited about Elissa Silverman’s chances of winning the At-Large seat, ending marijuana prohibition, and Bowser leaving the council. Zuckerberg as attorney general might be nice as well.