Hillary Clinton’s campaign is scheduled to open a new D.C. outpost with some help from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser later this week.
The new office, located in the Whittemore House at 1526 New Hampshire Ave. NW, will officially open its doors this Thursday at 7 p.m. The location will serve as a hub for Clinton campaign staffers and volunteers in the final weeks of the race, according to a Hillary for America spokeswoman.
To celebrate the opening, Clinton staffers are set to host a potluck dinner and meet-and-greet with an appearance from Bowser.
“Come join us and Mayor Bowser this Thursday from 7:00pm – 9:00pm for the grand opening of our new D.C. office,” the campaign said on an event page. “It’s a potluck; so bring a dish and a friend. Connect with others who love Hillary, want to get active, and show the nation that we are truly Stronger Together!”
This isn’t the first time Bowser has stumped for Clinton. Back in May, she proved she was “ready for Hillary” by supporting the candidate during back-to-back primary campaign office openings at 1919 M St. NW and 1227 Pennsylvania Ave. SE.
“When I think about somebody who’s going to represent me in the dangerous places in this world, I don’t want to see Donald,” Bowser proclaimed at the M Street office’s grand opening event. “I want to see Hillary Clinton.”
(Updated at 8:58 a.m. Monday) The first presidential debate is nearly upon us.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will meet face-to-face at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., for the first of three planned televised debates. The first event, moderated by “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt, will last from 9-10:30 p.m.
Though you can watch the debate for free on Facebook or tune in at home, wouldn’t you rather watch in public with a drink in your hand?
Here are some of the parties and events happening around town next week:
Adams Morgan
- Mellow Mushroom (2436 18th St. NW) will host a “not so mellow” debate watch party with drink specials and TVs with sound.
- Ventnor Sports Cafe (2411 18th St. NW) is scheduled to host an event for the Young Education Professionals.
Dupont
- Hillary supporters will gather at Sign of the Whale (1825 M St. NW) for a free debate event.
- Another pro-Hillary event will take place in Dupont Circle. Tickets are $25.
- Want to watch the debates among a sea of lawyers? Big Hunt (1345 Connecticut Ave. NW) will have them. Lots of them.
- Boqueria will host a debate viewing party with unlimited tapas and drinks for $45 a person.
- Teddy and the Bully Bar will have barbecue sliders, steak bites and candidate-themed cocktails for its debate event.
Downtown
- Lincoln (1110 Vermont Ave. NW) will hold its first of three debate watch parties. The parties will include “Clinton BBQ Sliders and Trump Steak Bites” for $5 and two candidate-themed cocktails for $11 each.
- Blackfinn Ameripub (1620 I St. NW) will have political-themed games and prizes prior to screening the debate.
- A “lively” pre-debate discussion from Party Politics U.S. and the Millennial Action Project will precede the debates at Barcode (1101 17th St. NW).
- The Atlantic brings live political discussion to Hamilton (600 14th St. NW). Those interested must register in order to attend the event.
H Street
- Vendetta (1212 H St. NE) will follow the debate with 2016 election trivia.
- Clinton supporters are urged not to boo at this party at Smith Commons (1245 H St. NE).
Logan Circle
- Number Nine (1435 P St. NW) will have a buy-one-get-one-free special on some drinks during the debates.
Mount Pleasant
- Hillary fans can gather for an official Ward 1 watch party at Purple Patch (3155 Mount Pleasant St. NW).
- Suns Cinema (3107 Mount Pleasant St. NW) patrons can witness the “presidential debacle” among likeminded people.
Mount Vernon Triangle
- “Debate bingo” will have people “fist-bumping” and going on “politically charged” rants at Busboys and Poets (5th and K streets NW).
Shaw
- South Asians for Hillary members are scheduled to gather at Shaw’s Tavern (520 Florida Ave. NW) to cheer on their candidate.
U Street or Nearby
- Ben’s Next Door (1211 U St. NW) will host a watch party with “food, drinks, and discussion.”
- Busboys and Poets (2021 14th St. NW) will host a panel of experts to debunk all the false stuff the candidates might say during the debates.
- The D.C. Young Democrats and Network for Progress will meet at Local 16 (1602 U St. NW).
- Nellie’s will have $15 buckets of Budweiser products during its viewing event.
- Sudhouse (1340 U St. NW) will screen the debate with happy hour specials all night.
West End
- Latino Victory Fund, Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and Environmental Defense Fund members will gather at Stoney’s on L (2101 L St. NW) for a “young professionals” debate screening.
As is the custom with these perfunctory roundup posts, we’ll end it by asking you to tell us what we’ve missed via e-mail or Twitter.
Though you might see his smiling face and star-spangled hat on presidential campaign posters across the D.C. area, Russell Hirshon doesn’t want your vote and he definitely doesn’t want your money.
Why? Well, because he doesn’t actually intend to take office (though he really is registered with the Federal Election Commission as an independent candidate).
“Honestly, you’re looking at the signs and you have to wonder, what in God’s name?” Hirshon said. “What would motivate someone to do that?”
The 55-year-old president of a small local creative agency is making a silly statement about the entire process. As he puts it in a press release, Hirshon “engages the public through his performance-art-politics that look to awaken individuals to his message and bring attention to the cause of supporting charitable organizations over political campaigns.”
More plainly, he posts funny signs across the city and occasionally sits on toilets in public in an attempt to get people to donate to charity instead of political candidates.
“For me, it’s like an art piece. I’m creating a canvas of political art,” Hirshon said. “The outcome of course… is to do that function of donating to charitable causes.”
Instead of filling the war chests of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Hirshon said people should open their wallets to charities like The Mastocytosis Society, LUNGevity and The Many Hats Institute. But any charity will do, as long as it helps people, he said.
Hirshon lays it out like this on his website:
With estimates that approximately $2.6 billion was spent in the last presidential election, it’s time to redirect campaign contributions. As donors, What would happen if we gave 10% of intended campaign contributions to a charitable cause instead? Likely some very beautiful things.
“If I can raise money for the charities that might help my friends, if it benefits other people’s charities, then it’s a win,” he added.
This isn’t the first time he’s tried to poke holes in the political process. In 1990, during the height of Marion Barry’s drug scandal, Hirshon made a name for himself by running for mayor of the District.
Two years later, he launched a sarcastic presidential campaign centered around grungy cable TV ads peppered with slogans like, “if you don’t vote, I just might win.”
“I’d put my phone number on there and people would call,” he recalled. “Talk about the greatest political science experiment ever.”
Though something like that would likely turn him into a viral video star these days, Hirshon said his exploits and celebrity have mostly been lost to time. When he relaunched his presidential campaign earlier this year, few people remembered him. In fact, it was only when he started putting up signs across town last week that he started to get noticed.
Last weekend, 300 people visited his website, about as many visitors as the previous six months put together; still a small number, but a definite sign of life. And even if his relaunched campaign snags just couple more dollars for charity, Hirshon said he’s happy with that.
“There will be those that say I’m an idiot or crazy or who knows,” he said. “But if I raise ten dollars extra more for charities, then I’m good with it.”
A longstanding member of Logan Circle’s ANC has been chosen to help represent the District during the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
John Fanning, who serves as chair of ANC 2F, will likely head to the convention in July with a list of other delegates that includes D.C. Councilmembers Jack Evans and Brianne Nadeau, according to the preliminary election results from the May 21 D.C. Democratic Pre-Primary Qualifying Caucus.
“It’s an honor to have been selected by the voters in Wards 1, 2 ,6 and 8… and to represent them at the Democratic National Convention,” Fanning told us via email.
Fanning, along with Evans, Nadeau and other local figures, have pledged as delegates to cast a vote for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But getting elected wasn’t easy. According to Metro Weekly, Fanning and 59 other delegate hopefuls faced an election where “the methods of selection are so oblique, the process so tangled, it’s no wonder the average voter is clueless.”
Tonight is the second of 11 GOP primary debates scheduled between now and March of next year. The leading candidates — Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Carly Fiorina — will step in front of an actual literal jumbo jet to debate at 8 p.m. Oh, and the debate will likely last three hours.
Two questions: Do you want to watch the debate? If so, do you want to watch it with a drink in hand and/or with a crowd of strangers?
If you answered yes to both, here’s how and where to do that:
Dupont Circle
Buffalo Billiards (1330 19th St. NW) will have a happy hour from 4-7 p.m. as well as $9 nachos, $5 Coronas and $6 margaritas.
Front Page DC (1333 New Hampshire Ave. NW): will have specials from 4-8 p.m. tonight, including $4 glasses of house wine, $5 margaritas and a $5 food menu.
Shaw
Cambria Hotel (899 O St. NW) will have the debate playing on TVs at its rooftop bar. Head there for a debate watch party from 6-10 p.m. with $4 domestic beers and $6 glasses of wine.
Ivy and Coney (1537 7th St. NW) will have an in-house commentator for the event.
U Street
Sudhouse’s (1340 U St. NW) happy hour is extended until 9 p.m. in honor of the verbal competition.
Adams Morgan
Johnny Pistolas (2333 18th St. NW) will show the debate on 12 big screens, and tacos are $2 from 5-7 p.m.
Ventnor Sports Cafe (2411 18th St. NW) turns political for the evening and will show the debates on 40 screens. Expect themed cocktails, special offers and a large crowd.
Park View and Petworth
The Looking Glass Lounge (3634 Georgia Ave. NW) has half-price burgers from 5-8 p.m., followed by debate bingo for a chance to win a free drink.
Red Derby‘s (3718 14th St. NW) big screen televisions will show the debate on two floors.
As is the custom with these perfunctory roundup posts, we’ll end it by asking you to tell us what we’ve missed via e-mail or Twitter.
The Huffington Post, the creation of Arianna Huffington, has become one of the biggest and most comprehensive blogs (an “Internet Newspaper”) in the blogosphere. Borderstan’s Diane Tucker is now blogging about the presidential election for Huffington Post as part of the “Huffpost’s Off the Bus: Ground Level Coverage of Campaign ’08.”
We’ve added Diane’s campaign blog to the Blogroll in the right-hand column. Be sure to check out Diane’s columns; her latest is “Gitmo on The Platte: Your Denver Guide to Convention Doublespeak.” You can find some biographical information about Diane when you go to her page. Alas, she mentions nothing about being a Borderstanian!
Diane Tucker is a writer/producer/director and owner of tücreate, an award-winning multi-media production company. Her work has appeared on Discovery Channel, History Channel, nationalgeographic.com, WXYZ-TV, many International Auto Show screens, and a couple of sandwich boards. She lives in Washington, D.C., but calls “Motown” home.
