At his inaugural parade a half-century ago, President John F. Kennedy watched the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's marching unit pass him on Pennsylvania Avenue and declared it unacceptable.

Americans sure have been assembling a lot lately -- using a basic right that's often overshadowed by its better-known First Amendment kin, particularly freedom of speech.

That's the guy who's winning, the polls say. A new mayoral race poll from Clarus Research Group , the nonpartisan polling firm that brought you the mayoral race poll circa August 2010, shows that Vince Gray leads Mayor Adrian Fenty 45 percent to 38 percent among likely primary voters who are largely divided along racial lines.

President Obama will call on Congress to pass new tax breaks that would allow businesses to write off 100 percent of their new capital investments through 2011, the latest in a series of proposals the White House is rolling out in hopes of showing action on the economy ahead of the November elections.

"Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist," on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum May 9 through Aug.

Some might think it odd that the mayor of Sacramento would spend time campaigning for the mayor of a city 2,700 miles away.