When Campaigns Start Getting Personal

The campaign for D.C. mayor got a little personal last night at a forum in Ward 8 in southeast Washington.

One candidate accused Mayor Adrian Fenty of not caring about senior citizens -- not even his own parents.

Ward 8 may be Fenty's weakest, and some in attendance tried to cut him off during the forum. But candidate Sulimon Brown changed the tone, questioning the mayor's concern for senior citizens.

"We need a mayor that can at least tell the truth," Brown said. "If he don't like old, elderly people, then he should say so. But apparently I respect my parents. I don't know about him."

Fenty asked for time to respond to the personal attack, showing rare personal emotion on the campaign trail.

"He just said he doesn't know whether I respect my parents," Fenty said. "At some point, you all, we're crossing the line. If somebody says that, I mean, we don't need to go there in this campaign. I love my parents just like everybody else. To me, that goes over the line. I would just ask all the other people running, if we could just, please, just tell candidates who try stuff like that that we have no part in this city for stuff like that."

Afterward, Fenty told reporters that every candidate ought to steer clear of personal attacks.


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