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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• VO to Kwame: Show Me the Money
• Gray: Keep Metro out of Circulator, Maybe
• Undecided About Gray

Good morning, sweet readers! Two weeks from today the madness of this election will end and the madness of the post-election, in whatever shape it takes, will begin. Hooray for madness. News time:

Good Day to Have the Last Name Brown: Vincent Orange, who is trying to beat At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown for the D.C. Council chairmanship, plans on dropping a big ol’ plate of accusations on Brown’s lap this morning. The issue: about $70k from Brown’s old finance reports. But it seems unlikely any mud Orange throws at Brown’s direction will change the outcome of the race. That’s because more data from THE poll of this election season shows Brown with a 31-point lead among likely Democratic voters over Orange.

But by far the most interesting part of the story by the Post’s Ann Marimow and Jon Cohen is the results in the at-large race. “In a surprising development, the results also show that in the at-large council race, longtime incumbent Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) is trailing the District’s lesser-known shadow senator, Michael D. Brown. Many voters have confused him with At-Large Council member Michael A. Brown (I) in part because he is listed on the ballot simply as ‘Michael Brown.'” OMG Mendo! Time to hit the panic button! “Brown, a late entry into the race who had raised no money as of the Aug. 10 campaign finance filing deadline, leads Mendelson 38 percent to 21 percent among Democratic voters and is receiving strong support from African Americans. Seven percent of Democrats favor a third candidate, Clark Ray, the former D.C. Parks and Recreation director. Among likely voters, Brown is clearly ahead of Mendelson, 41 percent to 29 percent.”

It’s hard not to feel sorry for Mendelson, who’s on the edge of losing his seat because a white dude shares the same name as a well-known black councilmember. But it’s also hard not to find the entire situation hilarious. Who knew politics was so easy? Just pick the right name. LL’s boss has a great suggestion for Mendelson: Just change your name to Michael P. Brown. Best quote of the day: “A 47-year-old resident in Ward 7 assumed that the Brown on the ballot was Michael A., the current council member. When told that the Brown campaigning for the at-large seat is the shadow senator, she was surprised. ‘Oh, I don’t know anything about him,’ said the federal government worker who spoke on condition of anonymity because of her employer’s restrictions on political activities. ‘That’s not the Brown I’m thinking of.'”

Here’s a chart that shows just how F’d Mendo is east of the river.

AFTER THE JUMP: Barry’s Office Oops; Mock the Vote; Firewallgate …

Double Oops: On the long list of ethical transgressions that involve Marion Barry, the Post‘s Tim Craig reports on possibly the least worst of them all. But it’s still pretty funny. “D.C. Council member Marion Barry‘s chief of staff used her official city e-mail today to announce that Barry is endorsing Nate Bennett-Fleming in the race for shadow representative, a possible violation of city ethics laws. Joyce Clements-Smith, Barry’s chief of staff, quickly apologized. ‘I was sending it for Marion, and I should have sent it from Marion’s personal e-mail,’ Clements-Smith said. ‘I made a mistake. I made an error.’ She reissued the statement a few minutes later. But she sent it from Barry’s official city e-mail account, also a possible violation. According to the D.C. code, city employees cannot use ‘work hours and non personnel services, including supplies, materials, equipment, office space, facilities, telephones and other utilities’ to ‘support or oppose any candidate for elected office, whether partisan or non-partisan.'”

Mock the Vote: Several reporters were on the scene like sex machines at One Judiciary Square to get a flavor of what the first day of early voting was like. The Examiner’s Freeman Klopott reports that Mayor Adrian Fenty’s campaign came out swinging. ‘For much of the morning and into the early afternoon, Fenty stood at the center of about four dozen supporters, waving a green Fenty campaign sign and shouting along with chants blasted through megaphones. The in-your-face mentality started early, with a Fenty campaign staff member briefly interrupting a 9:30 a.m. Gray press conference with a megaphone.” The campaign of Vincent Gray has a video, which takes forever to load, of said megaphone-wielding Fenty Ward 4 coordinator Josh Lopez. TBD has more video, with a Gray supporter yelling “Glenn Beck” at Lopez. Also there: DeBonis, and a bunch of TV cameras, but LL can’t seem to find their stories. 

All The Single Ladies: The Post‘s Reliable Source gossip blog reminds us that Gray is single and ready to mingle. “‘Yes, I date, but have not found a woman I am ready to marry,’ Gray told us via e-mail Monday. ‘My work ethic, lifestyle and the spontaneity of serving the residents of the District of Columbia have made personal relationships difficult because I do not like to disappoint people, among other reasons.'” Whoa, simmer down Romeo, with that smooth talk.

Firewallgate: TBD‘s Erik Wemple goes sniffing around the Post to find out what the fallout was after the editorial board broke the paper’s internal embargo of its mayoral poll story. Result: indifference! The bigger question, in LL’s mind, is whether the editorial board timed their latest editorial in direct response to the poll as a way of trying to give Fenty some cover. ‘Cause it sure seems that way. Also, Wemple, no answers on the poll story’s weak hed or the picture of Gray with Barry that ran with it? Frio!

WKYS-FM responds to Big G’s allegations, says Big G is not fired, will return to the air after the election, and Gray campaign had nothing to do with anything.

Harry Jaffe rightly mocks believers of “The Plan” [Examiner]

Both campaigns worried about threats to ballot security [Times]

D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles weighs in on how President Barack Obama handled the Guantanamo detainees issue. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Former Ward 2 candidate Cary Silverman endorses Fenty, saying “let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.” What a rallying cry. [The other 35 percent]

Anti-Union group takes aim at WTU in new ads [DeBonis]

Funny cartoon from one of LL’s favorites [Examiner]

So online dating is now socially acceptable [WBJ]

Fenty schedule: Groundbreaking at 10:45 a.m. for Washington Canal Park, 2nd and M St SE, Ribbon cutting for new Yes! Organic, 3 p.m. 2323 Penn. Ave.