It was on April 27, 2005, that we took our first of many stabs at the District mayoral race. And it’s tomorrow, some sixteen months after we first tried to guess who would throw their hats in the ring, that voters will finally have their say. Voters in the District and Maryland go to the polls tomorrow to vote in primaries for everything from senators to council-members to ANC representatives, with more than 800 candidates…

As Ryan wrote earlier this morning, much of the District went to sleep last night thinking the stadium lease had been voted down, fearing that they may wake up to MLB announcing it was defecting to across the river. And surely enough, local newspapers thought much the same — the Examiner’s headline this morning reads “Council Rejects Stadium Lease Deal; Mayor Williams Cries Foul” while the Washington Times similarly proclaimed “Council Rejects Stadium Lease.” We…

No, it ended up not being the Fruit Loop, the marrionberry, the coca leaf, or the half-smoke. It was the cherry. Well, at least that’s what the children charged with finding the District an official fruit chose, and now the D.C. Council simply has to vote to formalize the designation. And as the Post reports, this wasn’t merely a process of finding a suitable fruit for the task, it was also a valuable lesson in…

Coming straight out of left field, the Washington Times today is speculating that District City Administrator Robert Bobb is another maybe, potentially, who knows, we’ll see candidate for mayor. Writes the newspaper: D.C. Democrats are talking privately about whether City Administrator Robert C. Bobb will jump into the already crowded race for mayor…”There continues to be a fair amount of discussion about Robert Bobb being a possible candidate for mayor,” said Mr. Bolden, an at-large…

Feeling a little squeezed in on Metro these days? It’s not just your imagination — there really are more people riding the rails these days, according to the Examiner. High gas prices have pushed more and more people onto Metro, further crowding a transit agency already experiencing record high ridership. While eight-car trains have been tested on various lines in recent weeks and used during busy weekends, the crowd-thinning longer trains won’t be in full…

Up and at ’em, Washington. “Early to bed / early to rise / makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” goes the saying. Well, two area initiatives are in healthier, wealthier positions this morning. First, City Administrator Robert Bobb has confirmed that D.C. will enter negotiations with Deutsche Bank for a stadium financing deal. The proposed package would apparently ease the tax burden placed on city businesses by giving the bank a piece of…

Hearing on D.C. Gun Laws Tomorrow: The District’s three-decade old gun laws, some of the most restrictive in the country, will be the focus of attention at a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee tomorrow. Chaired by Tom Davis (R-Va.), the committee will consider legislation put forth by Rep. Mark Edward Souder (R-Ind.) that would overturn the city’s gun laws and restrict the ability of the City Council to impose other controls upon gun…

Councilmember Adrian Fenty continues his “Early, Often, and Crazy Ubiquitous” mayoral campaign strategy today at the Frank D. Reeves Building, where, if all goes according to plan, he will be the first candidate to officially file candidacy papers. According to the latest “Team Fenty” press release, it will all go down today at 2:00 p.m. We’re guessing that Fenty’s campaign is hoping for both a crowd and a handful of television cameras—two of the candidate’s…

D.C. Auditor Releases Report Critical of Mayor: In a 17-page report detailing three instances in which no-bid contracts were awarded to consultants for different city projects, D.C. Auditor Deborah K. Nichols chastised City Administrator Robert Bobb, at right, and D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams for “management behaviors that did not conform to the high ethical and professional standards expected of government officials and employees in the performance of their official duties.” The report, dated June 3…

Two recent developments involving the long-ignored Anacostia waterfront in Southeast, pictured at left, may mark the beginning of a long-standing process to revitalize the largely industrial riverfront property. WTOP reported this morning that federally-owned land along the Anacostia River between the Washington Navy Yard and the proposed site for the new Washington Nationals stadium has been turned over to a private developer, the first move of its kind in the nation. The area, known as…