Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson gets the full Style section treatment in today's Washington Post.
The story is lengthy as far as newspapers go these days, and comes with an online photo gallery. It's something of a two-fer: It gives more personal detail of the relationship between Johnson and his fiancée Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools. It also chronicles Johnson's childhood in Sacramento, his decision to run for mayor and how he's been received in Sacramento.
The power couple told the Post's Wil Haygood that Johnson popped the question after they saw "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, and that their nuptials will be sometime this year -- depending on their busy schedules.
"My true north is here in Sacramento," Johnson told Haygood. "So we'll have a bicoastal marriage for a time. But we're lucky we get a chance to see each other a couple times a month. It's not ideal, but when you're in love, you climb the highest mountain. You know how the song goes."
One part of the story that might raise some eyebrows is Robert Graswich's take on the differences between Johnson and Heather Fargo, whom he unseated in 2008.
"She ran the town like it was Mayberry RFD," Graswich, a former Bee columnist who is now a top aide to Johnson, told Haygood, referring to the little North Carolina town that was the setting for "The Andy Griffith Show."
Graswich chalks up the opposition to Johnson's agenda, including his strong-mayor initiative, to people resistant to change.
"A lot of people," he said, "like Mayberry."
