Nnamdi: Thank you very much, sir. Let me ask this gentleman over here. Sir, what do you like about THEARC, and why are you here?

Audience Member (with a Connecticut accent): Well, I'm a father, and I've got my two daughters taking ballet. And they're going to be involved with the Washington Ballet, so we come over here, I think, three or four nights a week. I feel like I'm a captive of the ballet as a father. I think I've spent half my life at the ballet here at THEARC. So we come over about four nights a week, and it's a wonderful facility. It's a great program, and we're delighted to be a part of it.

Nnamdi: And, sir, would you please tell us your name.

Audience Member: Well, I'm a retiring United States senator. I've been in the Senate for 30 years from the state of Connecticut. I have a home on Capitol Hill, and I've come over to this side of the river many occasions. I sit on the board of regents to the Smithsonian. I love the Smithsonian Museum here in Anacostia. I've been to it many times and didn't discover THEARC until the ballet program, but I'm glad that I did. So a pleasure to be over here.

Nnamdi: Ladies and gentlemen, Senator Christopher Dodd, retiring from the Senate after so many years.

After chatting with Dodd, other audience members discussed issues related to educational opportunities, bridging the digital divide and job creation. (Anyone want to start an over/under line on how many other members of Congress will make it east of the river in the next two years?)

THEARC will host a community open house on Saturday to celebrate its 5th anniversary.

Here's the full transcript and listen to Kojo's show here.

Photo courtesy office of Sen. Christopher Dodd

In an appearance this afternoon on WAMU-FM's Politics Hour, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty made as stinging a rebuke to his political ankle-biters as he ever has.

"The difference, I think, between a councilmember and an executive is, you know, I'm the one making the tough decisions," he said in a lively conversation with host Kojo Nnamdi and reporter Tom Sherwood.

Shades of "I'm the decider" perhaps?

But, more than that, he gave what could prove an effective response to critics who say he's too arrogant, aloof, and personally out-of-touch to deserve a second term as D.C.'s mayor: "We're taking on issues that aren't just tough, we're taking on issues that are intrinsically not politically popular," Fenty said, citing D.C. Public Schools closings, mandating at-will employment for DCPS employees, and implementing taxi meters as examples.

In a version of an answer he deploys often, Hizzoner characterized concerns about his style, his bedside manner, as far removed from the concerns of everyday citizens.

"When they talk to me," Fenty said, "this is what they say: They say, Mayor Fenty, I want to you to keep continuing fixing the schools; I want you to keep driving the crime rate down; I want you to keep renovating schools, liberties, recreation centers. Keep building new construction in the city. I want you to keep the population growing. I want you to keep fixing up hospitals like Greater Southeast. Keep reducing the backlog in child welfare....They say deliver results because that's what we elected you to do."

In another portion of the show, Fenty addressed allegations of malfeasance involving allies Omar Karim and Sinclair Skinner and tens of milliions in parks contracting.

Without once mentioning Karim or SKinner's name, Fenty denied any wrongdoing and called for ongoing investigation by the D.C. Council and city inspector general to run their course. Any contract awards, he said, were "completely removed from the executive branch of government, completely followed the procurement law, and very high-quality work [is] being done."

"I think that is very premature...We need to get through an election, we need to get through a transition, we need to get through the appointments process, and then we will establish what we will do."

Asked for three policy goals, Gray said: "I'm a planner!...I will look at the first 100 days and the entire four years as a part of my planning experience and my planning background. And, you know what, we'll do that in concert with people. This campaign will elucidate the concerns of people. This campaign will raise issues that I think will substantially inform additionally what a Gray administration will do."

Thanks to WAMU and Kojo Nnamdi for having LL on and shooting the video.

Hoyer acknowledged that "we've been distracted by the gun issue and a couple of other issues that haven't gotten as much publicity" but said he's been "talking to the mayor, talking to Vince Gray, talking to members of the city council...trying to get this done."

DCist's Sommer Mathis asked Hoyer whether he saw a way forward. "Yes, there is," he replied. "I don't want to go deeply." He did note the possibility of "taking the gun thing then getting the vote, then dealing with the gun issue as we go along"—though he said "that is not my preference."

In response to question from Tom Sherwood of WRC-TV, Hoyer said there was no "drop dead deadline" for getting the bill passed. "I don't expect we'll get past May and not get it done," he said. "Ultimately, we're going to create a sense of how we can do this."

Sherwood asked if it would help if President Barack Obama spoke out on the issue. Said Hoyer, "We're talking to the administration about that, and we're getting a read on what the city wants to do about that and what [Eleanor Holmes Norton] wants to do about that."

Yesterday, WAMU-FM reporter Kavitha Cardoza did a piece [Windows Media/RealPlayer] on the DCPS budget hearing held Tuesday, which was announced only six days ahead of time and which only "about a dozen" persons reportedly attended.

Kind of a boring piece, with requisite outrage from veteran activists Mary Levy and Margot Berkey—until Cardoza put Mayor Adrian M. Fenty on the spot about the short notice.

His verbatim reply, if you can call it that: "Yeah, I think the person who said it right is that we're providing an information in real time probably summed it up best."

A typical content-free response from Fenty, sure, but that isn't even a sentence, far as LL can parse. Replied Cardoza, "What does that—I don't understand what that means."

Said Fenty, "I can't translate. All I can give you is a response to your question."

In that case, we're all still waiting.

Since Jonetta Rose Barras left the Friday noon talk show on WAMU-FM last May over a pay dispute, the show has been rotating in guest analysts (including, now and again, yours truly). But in recent months, Sherwood, best known as a reporter for WRC-TV, has pretty much become a fixture. Nnamdi, indeed, has been referring to him as "permanent guest analyst" on recent shows.

Says Sherwood, "I've been a guest on Kojo's show occasionally over the years. I've got the highest respect for him." Late last year, he says, he was approached about doing something more permanent, and "my TV station decided to give me the time on Friday afternoons. I appreciate that they asked me."

When Barras was on the show, it was billed at the "Politics Hour With Kojo and Jonetta"; with Sherwood on board, however, the name will remain as plain-ol' "Politics Hour," says producer Diane Vogel.

Tune in to Sherwood's "resident" debut tomorrow noon at 88.5 FM—LL will be guest analysting!