Spot Spat: The D.C. Council’s plan to “fix” residential parking permits apparently involves taking street parking spots away from the public. No councilmember seems to have any interest in going after the real problem: streets where no non-resident parking, even for less than two hours, is allowed. -4

Shake the Ears: Former D.C. indie rocker Ted Leo heads to a basset hound festival and evaluates the fine beasts on paw size. +10

Gandhi, Again: Natwar Gandhi coasted through  a confirmation hearing for a third term as the District’s chief financial officer. Ho hum. o (+50,000,000 if you’re an Office of Tax and Revenue employee with a plan)

Softball Turns Hardball: Ah, the jokey softball game between rivals. Does it ever turn out well? Certainly not in the case of last night’s Republican National Committee-Democratic National Committee face-off:

No sooner had [RNC Chairman Reince Preibus] spoken that Deepak Ramnath, RNC director of targeting, pushed the DNC first baseman to the ground while being thrown out at first. The crowd gasped. “We need to win,” Priebus said. “Winning is important.”

The Republicans did win, by a run, but really, whoever wins, we lose. -5

Tuesday’s Needle rating: 30 Today’s score: +1 Today’s Needle rating: 31