This election season, the electorate is hungry for change. Or perhaps we’re just hungry. As the presidential campaign enters its home stretch, area bars and restaurants are rolling out election-themed eats and drinks. Around town you can eat a sushi roll or hamburger that represents your favorite candidate; drink a martini that represents your true political color; watch a debate while dining on Undecider Sliders and sipping an On The Fence martini. While seasoned campaigners......

Let's face it -- a local election in an off year and in the midst of a heated presidential campaign won't attract much attention, much less lots of voters. And tomorrow's District primary likely isn't much of an exception. While in 2006 the mayoral battle between Linda Cropp and Adrian Fenty and the contest for the chairmanship of the D.C. Council gave that year's electoral season a certain buzz, tomorrow's choices haven't provoked the same......

Last night I was flipping through the cable news channels in order to live-blog the Potomac Primary results, and as you'll see if you follow that link and scroll down toward after the 9 p.m. mark, something was amiss with the District's election returns. More than an hour after the polls closed, there was zero data from any of D.C.'s 142 precincts available from any major news outlet. CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer even mentioned on-air......

It's probably little surprise to you that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) won the District of Columbia's Democratic presidential primary. Is it a surprise that the Senator won every last of the District's 142 voting precincts? According to preliminary results from the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, that's the case. Though the map may appear as if Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) did well in many Northwest neighborhoods, she only managed to keep Obama under......

It looks like what Mayor Fenty told our reporter about high voter turnout in the District was spot on: Unofficial results from the DCBOEE show that about 38 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the city, which is both the highest of any presidential primary in 20 years, and higher than the turnout for Mayor Fenty's defeat of Linda Cropp in 2006's mayoral primary. Mike DeBonis has some more initial numbers this morning on......

The Associated Press is reporting that the Virginia State Board of Elections has received over 400 calls already this morning from confused voters wondering why their polling places are closed today. Some folks were apparently unaware that Virginia's Republican and Democratic primaries are being held Feb. 12, a week from today, along with Maryland and D.C. Virginia voters must be rather eager to cast their ballots. Either that, or Super Tuesday Fever is rather more......

The last time the District held a presidential primary, in 2004, they scheduled it first in the country, before even Iowa or New Hampshire, in an attempt to bring more publicity to the D.C. voting rights movement. But in order to get permission from the Democratic party to do so, the primary was classified as "non-binding", which led many of the leading candidates to drop out of the D.C. primary since it didn't matter. Howard......

Now that the 2008 presidential primary season has officially begun, it's time to make sure you're registered to vote. The District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia will all hold their presidential primaries on Feb. 12, which means voter registration deadlines are looming. In D.C., you must register to vote 30 days before election day, so your registration form will need to be postmarked by Jan. 13 (which is a Sunday, so make that Jan. 12......

Good morning, Washington. It turns out that House Pages don't need lecherous congressmen's help to make scandalous headlines: two have just gotten busted for inappropriate behavior in a House elevator. They've been dismissed, bringing the year's total fired pages to five — two others were caught shoplifting, and one was booted for fighting. Needless to say, it looks like the program — the oversight of which has been in turmoil — will be getting......

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did......

Good morning, Washington. The city is still reeling from the news that the U.S. Attorney's Office has indicted two employees from the District's Office of Tax and Revenue on charges of embezzling over $16 million. It's a staggering sum, and the Post cites officials who are calling it the largest theft ever uncovered in local government in the Washington area. The two women, Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus, are said to have used the money......

Good morning, Washington. Make it to the polls yesterday? If so, we hope you did so before the sun went down — it got cold in a hurry last night, as the area rapidly moved from warmer-than-usual temps to colder-than-usual ones. CapitalWeather is saying that the weekend should be warmer, at least. Election 2007: The results are in, and it looks like it was a good night for Virginia's Democrats. The Dems picked up......

Now is the time of year when we all get to start complaining about how stupid standard time is and how walking out of our offices last night into pitch black darkness was weird and uncomfortable and made us confused about what time happy hour was supposed to start. That is all. 'Fat Gap' Between Whites and Blacks in D.C. High: We've certainly talked about the income gap between whites and blacks in our city......

Good morning, Washington. It's Friday, and the city is still reacting to yesterday afternoon's announcement about how our new taxi meters are going to work. We already told you about the $4 flag drop, which many people are already saying is too high, and the fact that taxi roof lights will go on and off automatically to indicate whether a cab has a passenger, which everyone seems to agree is long overdue. One more thing......

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist's lives. When they're not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they're watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist......

Good morning, Washington. It looks like California's still on fire, and likely to remain so. Most versions of the aforelinked AP story include the phrase "firefighters all but concede defeat," and the Post is calling the resulting evacuation the largest in modern history. It all sounds pretty grim. Good luck, West Coast. Yet More Stadium Parking Controversy: The Post reports on the latest in a seemingly neverending series of deliberations over parking at the......

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) has decided not to seek the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) next year. The Post is reporting that Davis will announce formally on Thursday what his plans are, but sources have indicated that he won't look to take on a number of potential Republican contenders or former Governor Mark Warner for the seat. Davis reportedly doesn't want his run to overshadow a tough re-election contest faced by......

Just in case you were still tap, tap, tapping your fingers in anticipation of what Sen. Larry Craig would decide to do about his scandal-ridden Senate career, the wait is over: Craig has changed his mind about resigning and will remain in the Senate through next year. He made his decision this afternoon, shortly after a Minnesota judge ruled Craig could not withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct in a men's restroom at a......

Just like with the late-night votes in the D.C. Council on whether or not to finance the construction of a new stadium a few years back, we all hoped to wake up this morning and find out that the Senate had voted again and decided that voting rights for the District was a go. No such luck. We did, however, pick up a new champion for the cause. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) was the only......

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......

In the case of Marion Barry vs. "The Enemies of the People," Barry, it seems, always comes out on top. The "Mayor for Life" has been cleared of the last of his traffic charges after the D.C. attorney general's office filed court papers electing not to go forward. The Ward 8 Council member was pulled over by U.S. Park Police for driving too slowly on Dec. 16. In June, Barry was acquitted of driving under......

Good morning, D.C. If you live in Wards 1 or 2, don't forget to turn out to vote today in the special election for District I member of the State Board of Education. There's only one name on the ballot, that of veteran education reporter Mary Lord, but as we mentioned before, there's also a write-in candidate, first-year teacher in DCPS Jason Crawford. Check out each candidate's web site and decide for yourself. If......

Registered voters in Wards 1 and 2 received a postcard in the mail a few weeks back announcing the special election scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 21 -- but in the off chance you quickly tossed in the garbage, allow us to fill you in: In April, D.C. Board of Education member Jeff Smith resigned his seat in protest immediately after the D.C. Council gave preliminary approval to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s school takeover plan, so now......

>> Fort Reno has Antelope, Scanner Freaks, and OmegaBand tonight, at the usual 7:15 p.m. start time. Check out our Three Stars interview with Scanner Freaks and album review of Antelope for a preview of the show. >> The Bang -- featuring Three Stars veteran Anthony Pirog -- is playing at Wonderland Ballroom with Pilesar and the Quagmire, 10 p.m. >> Former Washington Post writer Jeffrey Frank, now a senior editor at The New......

The SILVERDOCS AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival was such a huge hit with film fans in its fifth year that it didn't end until yesterday -- a full day after its official closing. Festival organizers arranged to have several of the most popular films screen again on Monday to meet the high demand for tickets. On opening day it was apparent that the festival had outgrown its format of showcasing a large number of films over......

Lots of filmmakers, but especially documentarians, split their time between commercial gigs that keep the lights on and more personal works. Mary Lambert, whose ladies-of-the-U.S. Senate doc 14 Women had its world premiere last night at SILVERDOCS, is no different. Her resume includes the 1989 Stephen King adaptation Pet Sematary, some TV and direct-to-video stuff with awesome titles like My Stepson, My Lover and and Halloween II: Kalabar’s Revenge, plus music videos for the likes......

Dorothy Brizill, the Executive Director of DCWatch, the ubiquitous local government watchdog group, was arrested and charged with assault yesterday after Tara Bridgett, an aide to deputy mayor for education Victor Reinoso, said Brizill grabbed her shirt and yanked the ID badge hanging from a lanyard around her neck. Brizill, who has been a local legend in D.C. politics for twenty years for her hardcharging questioning of municipal goings on, had been meeting with Reinoso......

Good morning, Washington. You know, it didn't seem like that much of a storm. But apparently last night's brief thunder and lightning wrought more than their fair share of havoc: lightning struck a shopping center in Maryland, badly damaging it. In fact, WJLA had footage of the shopping center's laundromat last night — it had been completely obliterated. We had no idea! Still, it at least appears that the power system wasn't too badly affected:......

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics changed its tune yesterday and reversed an earlier decision by stating that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's school takeover plan cannot be the subject of a referendum. Once again, it comes down to the Home Rule Charter: attorneys for the election board said in papers filed yesterday that because Congress and President Bush have approved an amendment to the city's Home Rule Charter that gives the mayor direct control......

Last week we told you about the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics' decision to approve D.C. resident Mary Spencer's petition to try to place Mayor Fenty's school takeover plan, which amends the District's Home Rule Charter to give the mayor direct control of the school system, on a special election ballot in August. Now an article in today's Washington Times ">quotes Spencer accusing the mayor's office of delaying filing their expected appeal, which would......