Have you seen this Washington Independent post (City Desk picked it up, too) about a bizarre letter that's been circulated to Clarendon residents who are displaying Obama signs in front of their houses? The unsigned screed accuses (presumably white) neighbors who are outwardly supporting Barack Obama for president of only liking the candidate due to some inner need to prove to people that they are not racist. It's pretty disgusting, and would be more upsetting......

Go ahead and finalize your debate watching plans! CNN is reporting that John McCain has announced he will show up in Mississippi tonight after all to debate Barack Obama on national television. The debate starts at 9 p.m., so get cracking on coming up with the best possible McCain vs. Obama drinking games. If you're hoping to watch the debate with others out on the town, here's a couple of ideas: Marvin is hosting a......

About 100 people gathered on the sidewalk around the Mayflower Hotel in downtown D.C. this evening to catch a glimpse of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Obama was scheduled to make a statement to the press at the hotel after leaving a meeting about the economic bailout package at the White House. Obama had met with President Bush, Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and congressional leaders. Neither McCain nor Obama made an immediate statement......

Here's his statement (via): “This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess,” Obama told reporters in Clearwater, Fla. ... “In my mind, it’s more important than ever that we present ourselves to the American people and describe where we want to take the country and where we want to take the economy,” he said. .........

Should Obama Agree to Delay Friday's Debate? ( surveys) The latest is that Obama aides say their candidate is not inclined to to delay the debate, but Obama hasn't come out to say anything definitely yet. What do you think he should do?......

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is asking the Obama campaign and the debate commission to delay Friday night's first presidential debate, reports the AP. He has announced he is suspending his campaign to focus on the economic bailout package currently before Congress. To quote Matthew Yglesias: WTF? You can’t just stop the presidential campaign — what does that even mean?We're guessing it means McCain is getting hammered in recent polls on whether voters think he......

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is polling slightly better in battleground state Virginia than rival John McCain. Both nationally and locally in Virginia, McCain and Obama are so close to each other in the polls it can fairly be called a statistical tie. But the results of this new poll do seem to indicate that Obama is fairing better in Virginia than he is nationwide. In Virginia,......

In case you missed Friday's special episode of The Daily Show, check out the video excerpt above to catch D.C. Council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) being interviewed by John Oliver on the floor of Invesco Field on Thursday night. Bowser's short appearance begins around the 46 second mark. Oliver and his crew taped the segment shortly before Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech in Denver, and it appeared as though Bowser and several......

The experience of attending Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver on Thursday night was, simply put, staggering. From the very long lines to board a shuttle bus, to the exponentially longer security lines to get inside the stadium, just the process of getting to your seat took about two hours. Once inside however, the effect of such an imposing, enormous arena having been turned into a political spectacle was......

D.C. Superdelegate Anita Bonds, who is also the chair of the D.C. Democratic Party, formally announced on Tuesday that she will vote for Sen. Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in August. D.C. Wire reported on Bonds' decision first, and Bonds has since issued a formal statement on the matter. (CORRECTION: The City Paper's Mike DeBonis, aka Loose Lips, was actually the first to report on the Bonds story). In my role as the......

Former Mayor and current Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry apparently called up The O'Reilly Factor and asked to be a guest on the conservative talk show last night, and we've posted the video above. Barry wanted to talk a bit about Sen. Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal, but don't get too excited -- the back and forth between Barry and host Bill O'Reilly is actually for the most part rather......

With a little over a month remaining in the school year, things aren’t slowing down for Michelle Rhee. Never mind that the D.C. Schools Chancellor is being named in what looks to be a time-consuming vanity lawsuit by Washington Teachers’ Union vice-president Nathan Saunders, or that City Council Chair Vincent Gray is messing with her budget. The woman has work to do. As we mentioned this morning, Rhee has begun the process of notifying many......

The District's two shadow senators, Michael Brown and Paul Strauss, have both announced their endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama. The endorsements are actually quite significant because both senators are also two of the 22 superdelegates the city will send to the Democratic National Convention this summer in Denver. "We feel strongly that we should use our vote to uphold the will of the people who by decisive margins chose Barack Obama in contests across the......

Good morning, Washington. Supporters of Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Barack Obama are riding high off their caucus victories in Iowa last night, but locally, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty continues to suffer some bumps in the road after one year in office. Just weeks after the resignation of Attorney General Linda Singer, Fenty's former deputy chief of staff, Neil Richardson, has also resigned. Richardson, who was a key Fenty aide during his mayoral campaign, had......

>> An early morning fire struck some vacant buildings located at 14th & Maryland. [Frozen Tropics] >> Could potential supporters of the D.C. Voting Rights bill in the Senate, such as Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, end up being out campaigning and miss the vote, thus leaving it open to a filibuster threat? [Free Ride] >> The D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs is trying revoke the business......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

The Post's David Nakamura reports that Mayor Adrian Fenty plans to endorse Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. An official announcement has yet to come, but the actions of Fenty adviser Jim Hudson, who organized a fundraiser for Obama, suggest the mayor looks set to get behind the Illinois senator's campaign. Hudson collected $600,000 and endorsements from some of the mayor's more loyal D.C. Council members: Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4)......

We do hope you had a pleasant, relaxing, not too horribly hot weekend, Washington. Even if you didn't, chances are your Monday morning is shaping up to be less of a hassle than it is for the staff of Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA). Webb finally admitted over the weekend that he owns the gun that his aide, Phillip Thompson, was arrested for carrying into the Capitol in March. What kept him from clearing up......

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! Chicagoist had an interview with Audrey Niffenegger, whose popular book, The Time Traveler's Wife, was based in their fine city. They also had a heated discussion about Rush Limbaugh's controversial Barack Obama parody, talked about whether Uncle Julio's Hacienda is a good place to get......

>> D.C. looks to be trapped in the middle of a presidential endorsement face-off, with Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine already firmly in the Sen. Barack Obama camp (the first governor to endorse the candidate), and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley declaring his support for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Will D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty step into the fray with an endorsement of his own? >> Police have arrested a 12-year-old boy in connection to the "pins in the......

Yes, that's a fire hydrant that's become home to a swarm of bees on 16th and P Sts., NW. The note attached says a beekeeper has been called to take care of the problem. Anyone have some Raid? >> The DCist Department of Cryptozoology would like to propose formal protection for Bigfoot as an endangered species. One Canadian lawmaker is moving to do just that. Who else is picturing Marion Barry arguing for an......

Back in the day, people would gather to lobby, write letters and protest for a cause. These days, all it takes is access to a computer and a creative approach to using online tools. And while the fight for District voting rights has involved a good amount of old-school tactics, online activists have more resources at their disposal than ever before. Newly-elected Shadow Representative Mike Panetta has been leading this fight in recent years, employing......

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing-- what's going on in the World of the -ist's? Bostonist dug deep to uncover Barack Obama's unpaid parking tickets, their Governor's latest ethical lapse, and a plagarizing sports writer. Chicagoist had everything in twos: two views on having the Olympics, losing two members of their Super Bowl team, and two music festivals. DCist put their noses in legal books as they......

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor is spending......

After a 295-day hiatus, Tony Kornheiser is back live on the Washington airwaves. This morning, The Tony Kornheiser Show aired on Washington Post Radio (WTWP, 1500 AM and 107.7 FM). Kornheiser was lured away from Sports Talk 980 (his previous employer) and Dan Snyder's Red Zebra Broadcasting by a generous 3-year contract from WTWP. His return is expected not only to boost WaPo Radio's sagging ratings, but to bring some life to a moribund D.C.......

Is it just us, or are political campaigns a little like the Christmas season? They seem to start earlier and earlier each year. The hats are flying into the ring fast and furious right now, and one candidate may have managed to kill his chances with an ill-fated public statement already. That's gotta be some kind of landspeed record, not to mention it would have made a great Overheard had he not, well, been speaking......

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into......

>> More than 450,000 federal employees failed to file income tax returns for 2005, and they owe the government, their employers, a whopping $2,799,950,165. Are you one of them? [WTOP] >> A woman was found dead in a rowhouse that caught fire near Georgia Ave. NW. Police and fire officials are investigating the death and the blaze. [WaPo] >> KILLER SQUIRRELS ARE INVADING D.C. HOMES OMG !!1! [OuttaMindOuttaSite] >> Supreme Court says we don't have......

Good morning to all of you Washingtonians who, despite being forced to come in today, are honoring Dr. King today through peaceful resistance to actual work. Rather than confronting authority violently, you can make your dissatisfaction known through idleness and websurfing. We'll be right here with you. Then, outside work, maybe do something a little more meaningful to celebrate MLK Day. Guilty of Wrongful Deeds: D.C. police may have ended a rash of brazen break-ins......

Fenty Plans Transition: Fresh from his trouncing of rival Linda Cropp, mayor-to-be Adrian Fenty has started planning for an ambitious transition, reports the Post. As part of his move to the Executive Office in the John Wilson Building, Fenty has announced that he will examine city agencies and start enacting programs over the next few months, working cooperatively with D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams to shape the $7 billion 2008 budget. He also reveled in......