Good morning, Washington. Well, this is it: the holidays are finally, tragically over. You're once again sitting at your desk. And now we begin the slow, terrible death march toward spring, with only brief, inadequate celebrations of Presidents' and MLK Day to sustain us. Stay strong, D.C. — we'll get through this. Can You Hear Me Now? Hello? Hello?: The ball dropped, the phones came out and... nothing. "Y2K8 Bug" doesn't sound very catchy,......

The Associated Press is reporting that former Va. Gov. Jim Gilmore has officially announced he is a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. John Warner. Gilmore announced his candidacy by posting a video to YouTube. The formal announcement sets up Gilmore as the presumed Republican nominee for the seat, as the other leading candidate, Rep. Tom Davis (Va.-R), announced last month that he would not seek the seat. Gilmore will......

Today the Post's Mary Beth Sheridan writes that the effort to grant District residents even a modicum of voting representation isn't waiting for better talking points -- it's waiting for better politicians. According to the article, the fight for District voting rights may get its biggest boost in 2009 if a Democrat is elected president and if the Democratic Party can increase its numbers in the U.S. Senate.Despite the Senate setback, the latest effort is......

New Hampshire Looks to Smack Down Senators: After the U.S. Senate failed to overcome a filibuster on legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives, voting rights activists swore they would have their revenge. On the top of their list are Republican senators John McCain (Ariz.), Gordon Smith (Ore.), and Thad Cochran (Miss.), not to mention the lone Democrat to vote against the bill, Max Baucus (Mont.). But one......

Popular former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner formally announced today that he is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. John Warner. The announcement immediately give the Democrats a strong frontrunner in a race that would help solidify a Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, and makes the possibility of two Democrats representing the Commonwealth of Virginia for the first time since 1970 highly likely. No other serious Democrat is likely to......

Good morning, Washington. Does your commute include the Wilson Bridge? If so, enjoy this morning's trip — it's the last speedy one you're likely to have this week. As Fox 5 details, some of the traffic around the bridge will be redirected beginning at 10 a.m. this morning. But the worst will be saved for overnight on Friday, when traffic will be reduced to a single lane. Hateful Vandalism Galore: What the hell is going......

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)......

Last time we live blogged the House debate on District voting rights, things didn't go too well. We're hoping for a bit of an improvement today. From what we've heard on the Hill, debate kicks off at 10:30 a.m., and the legislation has been split up into two separate parts -- one covering the actual voting seats both D.C. and Utah would receive and the other dealing with the minor increase in annual spending the......

With the District's smoking ban now in force throughout the city's bars and restaurants, pretty much the only option for smokers set on enjoying a quick cigarette without heading outside was getting elected to Congress. Today, that changed. The Hill reports that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi officially banned smoking in the Speaker's Lobby, an ornate room beside the House chamber that for decades has been the refuge of smokers in Congress. The Post......

Happy Friday, Washington, and welcome to the newly redesigned DCist.com. Yes, our benevolent overlords in New York have been rolling out their new design city-by-city, and today it's our turn. We're still getting used to it ourselves, and of course we already know you'll give us your full and honest opinions in the comments. So go crazy — we're all halfway there already, and so is the weather forecast today. You might actually need that......

The election of Democrat Jim Webb as the junior Senator from Virginia has given political spectators another chance to speculate on what particular shade of indigo the Commonwealth appears to be these days. Webb's victory was hardly a blowout, but considered alongside the last two gubernatorial campaigns and the swelling population and influence of Northern Virginia, it's not hard to imagine that Virginia's statewide tendencies are only going to get bluer. Virginia hasn't become Massachusetts......

Written by DCist contributor Alex Hogan and Martin Austermuhle D.C. Mayor, City Council: Ok, so the September Democratic primary kinda took the air out of the District's official mayoral election, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go vote. Look for a crushing Democratic sweep, but give a little time and check out what the Statehood Green and Republican candidates, Chris Otten and David Kranich, respectively, have to offer. We'd like to think that someday their......

Step by step, inch by inch. That's how legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives is proceeding, but at least it's going somewhere. The House Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing today on the D.C. Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act, a legislative proposal put forth by Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton that would finally give the District a full......

I usually respond to the miserable summers in Washington by visiting friends and family in dryer, cooler climates. At the moment, I am writing from a cottage on Coldwater Lake in southern Michigan, but at several points along the road, people who have seen my D.C. license plate -- some of them probably the first time they have seen one -- have asked the same question. Why does the D.C. government put "Taxation without......

Webb Wins Virginia Primary: Jim Webb, a war hero who only recently became a Democrat, handily won Virginia's Democratic primary yesterday, reports the Post. Webb, who campaigned on the anger around the war in Iraq, defeated well-funded opponent Harris Miller, making him the designated competitor to Senator George Allen in November's election. Council Friends Spared Tickets: As George Orwell once wrote, "All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others." That......

Like it or not, the details of the personal lives of the rich and famous intrigue us. We like to know what exists behind that public facade, what quirks make the celebrity, pol, athlete or rock-star just a little more human. And just as we once found out that mayoral candidate Linda Cropp owns an iPod and stocks it with audio books and that D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams enjoys bird watching, today the Examiner brings......

What's with teens these days? Leave it to WJLA to do some undercover reporting to find out. In a story posted on the website, the station's probing news team embedded itself with teens in Maryland to find out exactly what makes them tick, what secrets they posses, and what they do on their free time. Not to say that the results are somewhat alarmist, but, oh hell, that's exactly what they are. Read for yourself:......

Good morning, Washington. If you are lucky enough to work for the government or elsewhere that follows the federal work calendar, many of you have today off in observance of Veterans Day. At Arlington Cemetery a free public wreath-laying ceremony and ceremony at the Memorial Amphitheater are planned for 11:00 a.m. If you are chained behind a desk we plan to provide the usual distractions. For more information about what's operating on a normal schedule......

Good morning, Washington. Today's weather is likely to match Jerry Kilgore's mood: lousy. That's right, the results are in, and Virginia's new governor is Democrat Tim Kaine. Kaine beat Kilgore by six percentage points in the culmination of a brutally negative race that turned dirty, then got even dirtier. Frankly, we're glad it's over. The Post has complete election results for Virginia here; Maryland's results are here. Group Surveils Day Laborers: The situation surrounding illegal......

Good morning, Washington. This shot of the Key Bridge was taken by Flickr user easement, who also posted some neat infrared shots of the area in his photostream. If you live in Virginia and several towns in Maryland, today is election day! To find out your polling place check out the website of the Virginia Board of Elections or contact your local government. Virginia Governors' Race Neck and Neck: The gubernatorial race between Democrat Tim......

If area newspapers decided Virginia's upcoming gubernatorial race, Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore would take the cake 2-1. Now, if one placed additional weight on a paper's circulation, Democratic candidate Tim Kaine would have enough votes to rule unchallenged for the next 30 years. Either way, newspapers don't decide elections, but they do offer up editorial endorsements. And endorsed they have! With Virginia voters heading to the polls on November 8 in an election that has......

Last Monday, the Post profiled ousted American University president Benjamin Ladner. Gina Maria Schulz, who served as "Personal Assistant to the First Lady" -- yes, Ladner's wife -- described the man as such: "He was the most ethical man I ever met." Ladner himself has this to say: "I do feel I've done what I've done with intentional integrity." How the Post's reporters didn't break out in hysterics is beyond us, given the emerging news......

She came, she went, she left destruction in her wake. Hurricane Katrina -- whose fierce winds and plentiful rains have left New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas partially submerged and reeling from the damage -- is continuing its way up through the continental United States, yet will thankfully avoid the Washington area. That's not to say we won't feel Katrina's impact in our own way, though. The Examiner today recognizes that District gas prices......

In a topsy-turvy world where Virginia's Governor is a Democrat and Maryland's Governor is a Republican, two recent moves in curricular politics seem to show that our enfranchised neighbors to the north and south are moving closer to being purple states. We mentioned in passing a couple months ago that in Maryland, Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum and Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays have succeeded in having a restraining order against the Montgomery......

Ever wonder what pollster John Zogby is doing now that the elections are over? Zogby, famous for getting it totally wrong during the past presidential election, has enough free time these days to poll real people on who they think will win the presidential race on "The West Wing". Um, has anyone told this guy it's just a TV show? The Zogby website trumpets the following results:Santos Favored over Vinick; Fictional Democrat Would Beat Fictional......

It wouldn’t be fair to say that Washington, D.C., spent the past week swept up in "State of the Union Fever." After all, with the Inauguration only a few weeks past, there’s something about a SOTU that seems ... so yesterday. It’s been years since a president ascended the congressional pulpit to suggest that the State of our Union was anything other than straight-up applejack goodness for everyone and everybody, and the last one who......

For this week's Monument, Memorials and Statues feature, we thought it'd be timely to feature the Japanese American Internment Memorial. Rep. Robert Matsui, the Democrat of California who passed away over the weekend at age 63, was one of the 120,000 Japanese Americans interned in camps across the country during World War II. (See SFist for more on Matsui's passing.) The memorial in the nation's capital is one of the more recent additions to sites......

Ah, health care. How we've missed debating this issue over and over again until all the acronyms and buzz words loose their meaning. This week, Josh and Congressman Santos go toe to toe over the Patients Bill of Rights and a suicide bomber kills a solider with the U.S. peace keeping mission in the Middle East. Are the two story lines related? No. Not at all. Do they have anything at all in common? No......

(From DCist contributor Hemal Jhaveri) DCist apologizes for being a little late with this week's recap of the West Wing, but we have family in town and the evil minions at our Internet provider have yet to come to our house and fix our connection. This post comes to you from our local library, where they let you use their dial up connection. We hope you appreciate it. This week on the West Wing, guest......

It's Election Night. The thousands of polls; the elevation of towns like Wausau, Wis., to the national stage; the negative natterings of the nabobs -- it all comes down to this. Millions will be glued to the TV to (hopefully) watch the media put an endcap on what has seemed like the longest election campaign ever. And whether they come from Fox News to CNN, the great white board of Tim Russert at NBC to......