Election Redux: Anyone who could read a poll (i.e., everyone but Adrian Fenty) had known for some time he was likely to lose to Vincent Gray last night. And lo and behold, he did! To find more surprising results, you had to look a little harder—for example, 1,319 D.C. Republicans wrote in a choice for mayor in the little-watched GOP primary between “write in” and, well, no one. (The main question now is whether Fenty or Michelle Rhee won the nomination, though chances are neither would accept it.) Even more startling: perennial candidate/bugle blower Faith could lose the D.C. Statehood Green Party nomination, as her 179 votes were trumped by 264 write-ins. Faith can always console herself, though, with the knowledge that even her measly 179 votes were six more than the 173 Sulaimon Brown got from D.C. Democrats. +4

That’s the Mall, Folks: Warner Bros. Entertainment donates $5 million to the National Museum of American History to overhaul the Smithsonian museum’s Carmichael Auditorium, outfitting it with digital 3D projection and, presumably, cushy chairs. This is bad news for devotees of Leonard Carmichael, the one-time secretary of the Smithsonian whose name is splashed on the theater now; Warner’s gift comes with a name attached. When the theater reopens next year, it’ll be the Warner Bros. Theater. And, we hope, it won’t just play Final Destination in an endless loop. +3

Billions for Metro to Dulles: Mating two of the Washington area’s least-beloved institutions—the Orange Line and Dulles Airport—was always a dicey proposition; it could either turn out as genius, like a deep-fried Oreo, or madness, like some genetic hybrid run amok. We won’t really know the outcome for sure until the Silver Line extension from East Falls Church to the airport is finished, but we do know one thing: it’ll be expensive. The second phase of the project will cost $3.83 billion, authorities say, on top of $2.76 billion for the first phase. Yes, yes, having public transit to the airport is, of course, invaluable. But would it have killed regional planners back in the 1950s to think of all this before they put the airport halfway to Ohio? -3

Golden Arches, Meet Golden Aortas: The District will be the first test market for a new TV commercial blaming heart disease and other evils of the world (like Happy Meals) on McDonald’s. Alarming news we learned only when the campaign launched: D.C. has more McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Burger King restaurants per square mile than other similar-sized cities. Alarming news we already knew: That shit will kill you. +2

Yesterday’s Needle rating: 54 Today’s score: +6 Today’s Needle rating: 60