Best of D.C. 2009

No secret here: Democrats own this town. But Barack Obama didn’t take 92.5 percent of the vote here because of a strong local party organization. Nah, the D.C. Democratic State Committee is racked with division, mismanagement, and tomfoolery to the point that it hasn’t had a working phone number in months. For a more competent local party apparatus, you have to look to the D.C. Republican Committee. Ignore the fact that, with Carol Schwartz having lost her council seat to an “independent Democrat,” there isn’t a single Republican in partisan office around here. Rather, look at Paul D. Craney, the young, feisty executive director who mans the party’s neat storefront office on 13th Street NW downtown. From there, Craney fires off pissy press releases, rouses the rabble, and generally promulgates a distinctly District-tuned GOP message of low taxes, good governance, and civil libertarianism. One day, he’s waxing righteous on school vouchers, the next he’s whacking around greeniac Mary Cheh for not using recycled paper in her newsletters (turned out she does). In other words, he does everything you expect out of a local party honcho. And, yes, he even answers the phone.