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CNN Live At Daybreak

Interview with Bruce Alan

Aired August 26, 2002 - 06:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: So many of us are still dealing with drought. It's certainly that in D.C., as that topic starts off the "Talk of CNN" this morning. It's our chance to find out what's going on in your town.
Bruce Allen from news talk radio station WTOP in Washington joins us live by phone.

Good morning.

BRUCE ALAN, WTOP RADIO NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: The drought is pretty bad there.

ALAN: It is. It's bad in a lot of the country, but it seems really rough around the Mid-Atlantic states. Some of the far-out suburbs are under water restrictions.

And the city of Frederick, Maryland, about 30 miles to the north of Washington, it is actually trying to divert the Monocacy River with a temporary dam. They're even considering trucking water in. It's a rough go for them.

COSTELLO: Trucking water in?

ALAN: From the Potomac River, yes.

COSTELLO: That is something else.

You've got kind of a wild mayor's race going on there right now.

ALAN: Just when you think it's going to be a boring summer. Mayor Tony Williams, by all accounts, had been doing a good job, well enough to just cruise into re-election with very little opposition. But they still use nominating petitions, and of the 10,000 signatures that the mayor collected on his, fewer than 2,000 turned out to be legit.

So that was not enough to get him on the ballot, so Mayor Williams was actually barred from the Democratic primary ballot.

COSTELLO: That's just crazy! So now, he's got to be -- what -- a write-in candidate?

ALAN: That's right. He's running as a write-in candidate. And the four candidates who are on the ballot are an interesting group. One of them is named Faith. That's her only -- one name, Faith. She's a 78-year-old bugle-playing, former dancer, who sings her campaign theme to the accompaniment of her husband, who I think is about 40, playing on his guitar behind her.

You've got a former council member from the '70s, whose biggest claim to fame seems to be having gotten into an altercation with a tow truck driver when he bit him.

COSTELLO: Oh!

ALAN: One of the other candidates, Ozzie Thorpes (ph), surmises that Mayor Williams was dropped on his head as a baby, and that explains what he doesn't like about the mayor.

And the remaining candidate, James Clark (ph), wants to cut off water to Congress until they give the city back to the poor, working blacks, as he says. He seems like an angry man, but he wants to give voting rights back to the district and...

COSTELLO: Interesting concept.

ALAN: ... they control -- It is an interesting group.

COSTELLO: Yes.

ALAN: And there is one other write-in candidate, Reverend Willie Wilson, who jumped in when he saw what happened to Mayor Williams with his petitions.

COSTELLO: Oh, he's a perennial, isn't he?

ALAN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Yes. So are these -- any of these interesting candidates getting support from the general populace?

ALAN: Well, Willie Wilson has some support. He appeals to some of former Mayor Marion Barry supporters, and he is probably the biggest challenge to Mayor Williams. But even as a write-in candidate, Tony Williams should be a lock.

COSTELLO: How embarrassing for Tony Williams, though. It's just insane.

ALAN: It was embarrassing, and it turned out he was a little too disengaged from his campaign. But since it all happened, he's actually been very engaged, running a real campaign, and we'll see how it turns out on September 10.

COSTELLO: Yes, it will be very interesting.

ALAN: It's amazing, though.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the West Nile virus. They're doing something interesting at the National Zoo to try to prevent the animals from getting this?

ALAN: They are. They're trying to immunize the animals against West Nile. I mean, it's all over the country, the fear of West Nile, and everybody is doing everything they can to get rid of mosquitoes as best they can.

But it gets into everybody's psyche. A soon as you get a little mosquito bite, you know, the rational part of your brain says, well, most people don't get West Nile when they get bitten. But you still say, my god, a mosquito bite, I'm getting West Nile.

COSTELLO: Oh...

ALAN: At the National Zoo, they're trying to immunize their animals, so that the animals don't get it. They've lost a couple of birds and a few other animals to West Nile. It's a tough situation.

COSTELLO: Yes, a tough situation for many people in the country.

Thank you, Bruce Alan, from WTOP in Washington for joining us this morning. We'll catch you again next week at this time.

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