Only A Snapshot In Time ...

The Notebook has been on the "rubber chicken circuit" a long time. You know what we're talking about -- the mystery meat served on the campaign trail and at countless civic events.

But participants at the Women of Washington mayoral candidate forum this week seemed to have real chicken (The Notebook didn't eat). They seemed to actually enjoy it before the forum. Of course, it was at the Georgetown Four Seasons, so that may have had something to do with the quality of the lunch.

The candidates on the menu behaved admirably, too: no eye-gouging or finger-pointing. Heck, there weren't even any disguised personal attacks. But we've got a long way to go until the Sept. 12 Democratic primary balloting.

Candidate Adrian Fenty sailed through a lot of his responses pretty well, even though the moderator interrupted him twice to nudge him along. At one point, Fenty referred to something called the "TANIF program." The Notebook is betting that only a handful in the full ballroom knew what he was talking about (Temporary Assistance For Needy Families).

Memo to all candidates: don't talk in acronyms.

Council Chairwoman and mayoral candidate Linda Cropp is gaining her sea legs on the long campaign trail (is that a mixed metaphor?). But she, too, lapsed into "legislative speak" here and there.

Memo to candidates: Don't talk about "my colleagues" and "the executive" and please don't explain the legislative "process" to us. You guys are running for mayor, our leader, not parliamentarian or something like that.

Candidates Vincent Orange and Marie Johns made respectful showings. But they're way back in the polls and the public's mind. The best thing they have on their side is time. It's still early for them.

(An aside: Mayoral candidate Michael Brown was not at the forum. A spokeswoman said he was called to Los Angeles at the last moment and was sorry he had to cancel. Hmmmm. The Notebook wonders if a more detailed excuse for bailing out at the last minute might have been more politically wise. )

A new poll, completed in early January, has a nice snapshot of the race. It shows Fenty leading Cropp 40 percent to 32 percent. All the other candidates combined add up to 13 percent. Another 13 percent is undecided.

Cornell Belcher, a respected Democratic Party pollster, declined to tell The Notebook for whom the poll was done, but said it wasn't for any candidate. Belcher said the results of the 400-person telephone poll showed that the race was far from over.

We now await the Jan. 31 formal filing of campaign receipts and expenditures. That, too, will probably say it's a two-person race at this point.

Summertime Thinking

Some of this recent warm January weather may have you thinking about the warm days of summer.

While you're at it, think about helping out some students at the University of the District David A. Clarke School of Law.

The school is holding a summer intern fair on Feb. 16 in an effort to place law students in meaningful internships for the summer. The good news is the students will work full-time at no cost to you. They'll get a stipend of $2,500 that you can add to or not.

If your company or organization wants to participate, contact dbauman@udc.edu.

More Baseball

The latest deadline is Friday (Jan. 27) when the mayor needs to get a revised lease to the council if it legally wants to vote on it Feb. 7. Everyone keeps saying the lease is near done; it's almost wrapped up, the mayor's going to get it done. It won't be done until the council votes. The mayor's hoping for a more than a spare seven-vote majority, but he'll take what he can get as long as he gets seven.

A Bit Of National Politics

The annual anti-abortion march was held in Washington again this week. Impassioned abortion opponents demonstrated against the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling of 1973.

Without taking sides, The Notebook wonders what the landscape will be like if the new Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and, presumably, returns the issue for each state to decide. Sounds chaotic with 50 different state battles. Congress would continue to decide the issue for the District, even though we don't have a vote there.

It reminds me that a pollster told me last year that the United States is destined to re-fight many of the social battles of the 1960s.