The clumps of Coreopsis “Moonbeam” and ivy are almost getting crowded out of Robert Hodgson Jr.’s tiny front yard at 1680 Kalorama Rd. NW in Reed-Cooke. Not by weeds, but by another prolific late-summer bloomer: campaign signs. Hodgson has about as many signs as he has square feet of available space. The front-yard slate, Hodgson says, reflects his support for neoconservative fiscal policy and gay rights. There are props for Jack Evans, Phil Mendelson, Linda Cropp, David Catania, and Hodgson’s current boss, Jim Graham not counting the Clinton/Gore sticker still warping in his front window.

“I told David Catania, ‘You’re the last candidate I can support, or I’m going to have to get a bigger yard,’” joshes Hodgson, who currently works as Graham’s west-side field coordinator, and who previously served as Cropp’s campaign manager, and worked for Sharon Ambrose in last year’s special election.

The signs are a blunt way to convey his refined views on D.C. politics. Although he put up his sign for Evans, deep down he thinks Harold Brazil should win the mayoral race. “Harold is the most competent candidate to be mayor,” Hodgson says, “but his campaign has gone nowhere and is going nowhere. As for Jack [Evans], he’s done a lot for gay and lesbian people in D.C., and we owe him a debt of gratitude for that.” With any luck, Hodgson himself will get in on the payback come November. “I will have a job,” he avers, “if the right person is elected.”