Carol Schwartz is running for mayor for the fifth time, and her entrance into the race is bad news for independent candidate David Catania, as Will Sommer argued in last week’s Loose Lips column. But is it? “Why are you assuming that Carol Schwartz will only affect Catania’s vote?” commented Thunder. “I know that most of the media is white male reporters in this town, but do you have to accept Catania’s press releases as fact?”

Cue SayWhat: “Carol Schwartz is going to mess David Catania’s vote up, he already couldn’t win, now he definitely will not win. This is really a Democratic town and Democrats will show up for Muriel [Bowser] even if they have issues with her.”

Not so, argued Bob: “This Democrat (who by the way, has repeatedly raised funds for Democrats in national elections) is showing up for Catania. I know lots of Democrats who plan to do the same. I voted for Schwartz when she ran against Barry back in the day, but she’s a has-been now and hasn’t even stayed involved in D.C. policy or politics. We don’t need an airbrushed, anodyne version of D.C.’s traditional political culture as mayor, and that is exactly what Bowser is. Catania offers a proven record, a change from the past, a chance to break one party’s perpetual patronage lock on the District building and thoughtful ideas for the future.”

But wait! “I’m a Democrat who planned to vote for Catania until Carol announced,” wrote Andrea Rosen. “I remember her well, as I’ve lived here since 1985. What makes a candidate a ‘has-been,’ callow young man? That five years ago she had the courage to fight for a groundbreaking bill (D.C.’s mandated paid sick and SAFE leave law was the first in the nation) that cost her her seat? A bill that was further vindicated just weeks ago by its extension to tipped employees (the sacrificial lambs of 2008)? That she’s a woman who dares to run for office at an age when, according to males, airbrushing is required to make her presentable? Democrats and independents who spurn Ms. Bowser (“proud, very proud” to have earned the $$$$$ showered on her by corporate donors, big and small, far and wide) should line up behind one candidate, and in my view—at this point, anyway—that candidate is the former Republican with the hard-earned name recognition: Carol.”

Millenium Staged

Staff writer Perry Stein endured Millennial Week and its program of panels, networking happy hours, and, uh, more networking hours, but was something so self-evidently silly even worth mocking?

“I was gonna organize an official ‘Gen X Says Fuck It, Gives Up Week,’ but then I said, ‘Fuck it,’ and gave up,” commented EdTheRed.

Reader Guest was appreciative, at least: “Your overall tone is dead-on. Hard not to be skeptical about that much empty ego-stroking. Really seemed like an event more for the presenters than the participants.”

One of the millennials featured in the piece was even moved to defend his depiction. “Oh come on, @PerryStein, you know you wish you wore seersucker,” tweeted David Pasch of the group Generation Opportunity. “It was like 125 degrees.”