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This year's At-large D.C. Council race just won't go quietly into this goodnight, and neither, she announced today, will longtime Republican Council member Carol Schwartz. Even though she initially said last week that she would not launch a write-in campaign after losing the GOP primary to upstart challenger Patrick Mara, Schwartz today announced that she will now do just that.
Schwartz's campaign web site already has the full text up of her speech this afternoon, in which she accused Mara of winning the primary by targeting local College Republicans whom she described as having "no real vested interest in the District of Columbia" — we're sure some of you who went to one of our many local universities and settled permanently here afterward might disagree on that one. Schwartz had several other unkind words for Mara:
... to be honest with you, the idea of going forward with a write-in campaign and actually running against a candidate who is now being supported by many on the DC Republican Committee, which bravely and unanimously endorsed me in the primary, is a difficult thing to do. Working opposite those who did so much, so recently, for me is something I do not take lightly. But I also do not take lightly my primary opponent’s extremely nasty, dishonest and unfair efforts to undermine my record - a record of which I am justifiably proud. Make no mistake, his tactics played a role in this decision to fight on - a risk he willingly took.Today's announcement goes against a lot of the murmurs we heard in the last week that Schwartz may not have had her heart in this campaign: she waited until the last minute to announce she was running again, and appeared to concede the election to Mara with only 20 percent of precincts reporting, long before she could be sure of the results. Up until today, we thought Schwartz may just have been relatively contented to retire from politics after so many years of service. We were wrong.
Schwartz will now face a write-in candidacy against a long list of candidates on the ballot running for two At-large spots on the Council. Remember that in At-large races, you vote for two candidates on the general election ballot. Most everyone expects Democrat Kwame Brown to easily win the first spot. Even though Mara beat Schwartz in the primary, it seemed unlikely he'd be able to beat Democrat-in-Independent's clothing Michael A. Brown, who has both the name recognition from his 2006 bid for mayor and the fact that his last name is the same as Kwame going for him. With Schwartz, who has for so long been popular across party lines in the District, back in the race, the candidate with the most to lose now may well be Michael A. Brown.
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Oy vey...
I am seriously curious, what evidence is there that Mara ran "extremely nasty, dishonest and unfair efforts to undermine my record"? specific examples.
on another note, i noticed when doing research on this election that a lot of comments on different websites were pretty similar (probably ips right back to schwartz office)
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=36128
"Is Mara a Log Cabin Republican? He's 33 and his bio as well as news articles in the Post make no mention of his marital status or whether he has kids. The Post makes mention of Schwartz's past marriage and her son."
and
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090102670_Comments.html
"Neither the WaPo article or Patrick Mara's website indicate anything about marital status or children. Is Mara one of those Log Cabin Republicans?"
i don't think the citypaper known for the gaybashing readers? was schwartz trying to link him to being a log cabin to play on republicans homophobia or something?
If being 33 and unmarried makes you gay, a lot of my friends are extremely closeted.
i don't think the citypaper known for the gaybashing readers? was schwartz trying to link him to being a log cabin to play on republicans homophobia or something?
It's not gaybashing if it's a Republican, its "calling them out on hypocrisy". Never mind that the GOP rank and file isn't monolithic on gay rights (i.e. there are a few Rockefeller/libertarian-sylte GOPers left), and that its really unnecessary if neither side is hitting the other on 'family values' issues.
Besides, women in this city suck. I don't blame him for being unmarried at 33.
Geeeeeeesh.
She and LIEBERMAN just don't get it.
Civics 101 - If at first you don't win, try try again.
"If being 33 and unmarried makes you gay, a lot of my friends are extremely closeted."
No, it's not just being 33 and unmarried. It's being 33, unmarried and Republican.
But seriously, I can see three very possible scenarios:
1. Simple Split: Brown does a good job educating Democrats that he's really a Democrat and they have two votes. Schwartz's goodwill with the public isn't enough to overcome Mara taking most of the Republican votes. Brown wins.
2. Schwartz's Hope: Brown fails to educate the public that they can vote twice, and besides, don't you remember his mayoral bid? He was the first to drop out after getting nowhere. Mara fails to win over the rest of the Republicans and Schwartz rides her reputation back into office.
3. Mara Split: Brown fails to convince enough Democrats to vote twice, and Brown and Schwartz split the Dem/Ind vote that does vote twice. Mara locks up the Republican vote. Mara wins.
I think all three scenarios are definitely possible.
Oh it drives me crazy when people talk about "long term" residents like they're f***ing superior. At every community meeting people stand up and say "I've been living in this neighborhood since 1912 and...."
Hey, Joe Homeowner, your vote counts just the same as everybody elses
reid: scenario three seems least plausible due to the paucity of registered republicans in the city. fact is, there just ain't that many of them.
i knew carol would run as a write-in. i'm sure that she had more than a few people tell her that there will be enough dems who feel sympathetic towards her that will help keep her in office.
fact is, i think that dee hunter, michael brown, mara, and the others split the "who the hell are those guys" vote enough that carol will be able to get in—with a big caveat:
she's a write-in, right?
if she could get on the ballot as an "independent", i think she'd win (along with kwame) hands-down.
but, getting people to remember to write you in will be tricky.
and would votes for "carol schwartz", "carol schwarz", "carol shwartz", and "carol shwarz" all be accrued to her? because i could see spelling issues here too.
i should explain my consipiracy theories a little better (either way i am voting for Brown):
1. I think it was the same writer and the tone is more of a smear (one of those...). Look at the wording (age, marital status, kids, log republican, reference to washington post)
2. If it was a serious question why are you posting it on multiple sites.
3. I expect this on washingtonpost comments where there is a lot of hate, but the citypaper?.
4. This was a deliberate attempt to smear Mara before the election by Schwartz or one of her political operatives.
5. If citypaper checks their ip logs and it goes back to schwartz, her political life in dc is done.
Beginning of Carol's speech today, as follows:
I am here today, to say, as Steve Jobs (9/9/08) once said, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
If she is accusing Mara of going after campus CR's, why doesn't she go after her own young adult niche of, say, the Apple variety? =P
Is this a case of sore loser syndrome? Don't politicians know how to bow out gracefully?
"reid: scenario three seems least plausible due to the paucity of registered republicans in the city. fact is, there just ain't that many of them."
Well, some 20,000 or so voted for George W. Bush. In 2004, no less. So that's a sizeable chunk of votes that could be the difference in a close race.
Carol had no problem using College Republicans from DC, VA, and MD when she ran against Barry for Mayor.
Real classy Carol. She lost on the issues that probably matter to the 4,000 Republicans who voted in the primary. And she lost. And then, by running as a write-in she merely confirmed the core of Mara's campaign, that Schwartz was a RINO.
Remember the Anthony Williams write-in campaign after the signature fiasco? The Williams campaign had pencils made with his name on them. Apparently perfectly legal to take those into the voting booth. I suspect Schwartz will do the same.
Anyhoo, I've always kinda liked her. She pulls off "tacky" really well.
RINO or not, if the majority of the people voting in the district want her, then she wins. holy joe lieberman is the patron saint of those who feel that primary politics don't apply to them, and i guess others don't have a problem following his lead
Twelve posts and nobody's called Boomhauer out for saying "women in this city suck?" Not that I disagree or anything, but that hasn't been my experience. If anything, women in this city don't suck. They don't even like guys to give them oral. Maybe it has something to do with that whole exhale-and-watch-her-jet-crazily-around-the-room-like-a-balloon thing, which I might add, is a real hit at kids parties.
Can we have one Carol Schwartz thread that doesn't end in a discussion about cunnilingus and the Hindenburg?
Not surprising that Carol is deciding to run as a write-in. I'm sure she spent the weekend at her beachhouse in Rehobeth, thinking "This is what life is going to be like for me from now on: sitting around doing nothing and not getting a $100,000 salary."
She ran an incredibly bad campaign. She had very little organization and had difficulty raising money. She should have known she was in deep doo-doo when her Council colleagues were calling her up and telling her she needed to go out and - you know - actually campaign. She's got a few weeks to get an all-out campaign up and running. Mara and Brown can portray her as simply a permanent politician desperate to do whatever she needs to keep her seat. It will be quite fun to watch the DC GOP have to campaign against her when they had bet on her beating Mara. Good times.