Big News for Big Head: Barack Obama has echoed John McCain‘s demand that Teddy Roosevelt win his first president’s race at a Nationals game. -2

Mind the Gap: Washington’s gender wage gap is smaller than any of the states’, according to the American Association of University Women. On average, District women earn 90 percent of what their male counterparts do, while women in last-place Wyoming make only 67 percent. +2

Filthy Lucre: Order up a vault of coins that we can swim in, because the Washington area has seven of America’s 10 richest counties. Shh, don’t tell the rest of the country. +1

Even More Filthy Lucre: The Baltimore-Washington area also has 14 people on Forbes‘ billionaires list, including Nationals owner Ted Lerner and Redskins owner Dan Snyder. +1

Wednesday’s Needle rating: 61 Today’s score: +2 Thursday’s Needle rating: 63