December 2006 – Page 2

Anticipating the spring

I know we’ve have a relatively chilly week, the college football bowl season is ready to begin, and we’re in the midst of the holiday season, but I’m thinking baseball. Recently our Shorebirds were sold by Comcast-Spectacor to a California-based company called 7th Inning Stretch, LLC. The Shorebirds join the Stockton Ports of the California Legue as teams owned by this group. Obviously, being a Shorebirds fan, my interest was piqued and what I wondered about was what I could expect as a fan in 2007. So I looked into some of the things that the Stockton Ports have to offer.

The Ports are the class “A” (Advanced) affiliate of the Oakland Athletics; in other words, they are one rung above Delmarva in Oakland’s minor league chain (the same level as the Frederick Keys in the Orioles system.) I bring this up because, much like Delmarva, the fans in Stockton get a large player changeover each year as prospects move up or down.

Stockton just opened a new downtown stadium in 2005, so the ownership of the Ports obviously spent the time and effort (or at least lobbied the city and state well) to upgrade the facilities where the Ports play. The Ports doubled their attendance from 2004 to 2005 and now have attendance numbers almost identical to what the Shorebirds draw – last year the Ports drew 213,724, which is within a good night’s crowd of Delmarva’s total. The Ports toil in a more competitive environment though, as the city is about an hour or so from the Bay Area and their CL rival Modesto is just a few miles down I-5. It takes away some of the advantage Stockton would have by being in an area more populous than the Eastern Shore. While the Shorebirds don’t need a new facility, it would do the new ownership well to make some upgrades in the next season or two. Job one in that respect has to be a new scoreboard and video board. And it wouldn’t hurt for Sherman to get a bit of a makeover.

Because the teams in the minor leagues are only as good on the field as the players provided to them by the parent organization (something the O’s have been lacking for most of the last decade) much of the fan interest is spawned by whatever promotions are dreamed up by the team brass. As an example, it’s pretty common now in the minor leagues that weekend night games have fireworks at their conclusion. For the weekday games, a cottage industry of various entertainers make the rounds during the summer. Shorebirds fans are familiar with the antics of Myron Noodleman, the purple mascot Reggy, and other acts that make appearances at Perdue Stadium. Another gimmick is the alternate uniform nights, where the Shorebirds wear a different cap or jersey (or both) for a particular cause and they’re auctioned off to benefit that organization at game’s end with the player’s autograph. Personally I thought the Harley-Davidson uniforms with the flames were pretty cool. Not so sure about the pink ones.

But in looking at some of what the Ports did, there’s a couple neat things that they could bring to Delmarva. For one, I’d love to know how their Singles Night turned out. Basically it’s “speed dating” but by being at the ballgame (which means you’re probably baseball fans) you’re assured that you have at least one thing in common with the person opposite you. They also did a Wing Fest at the ballpark, which had to be pretty good. (Gee, does that tie in to Delmarva or what?) The Shorebirds do similar items on a more limited basis (such as toward the tail end of last season they had beer/wine tasting nights) but this effort in Stockton was open to anyone. Other events the Ports hosted were a Salute to Military Night, a Foster Care Night, a ’70’s Night (as for me I’d prefer an ’80’s night because the tunes were better), and a Law Enforcement Night. (I think the Shorebirds had a facsimile of Law Enforcement Night on a Sunday afternoon last season.)

In turn, there’s a few promotional items I’d like to see the new management keep. I really liked the car show, that needs to stay. Related to that, honoring Delmarva’s agricultural heritage also needs to continue so keep the Ag Day too. I’m sure Perdue, Mountaire, and others will also maintain their particular dates. And bring back the Redskins cheerleaders too.

Hey, while I’m doing requests I may as well ask that a couple things be brought back that were missing last season. First of all, I liked having the two onfield hosts better. Obviously the onfield hosts are typically younger folks and they move on to bigger and better things, but I enjoyed having the banter between the two rather than just one last season. Second and more importantly, bring back the bands!!! Of all the things I missed last season, that was far and away #1! It makes Thirsty Thursday just SO much better.

I had one other Shorebirds item to throw in. Many fans may recall outfielder Lorenzo Scott, who played here all of last season. Because of his advanced age compared to other Shorebirds I felt he was going to have to jump at least one or two levels next year to have a shot at the bigs.

The good news for Scott is that he was selected by the Florida Marlins in the AAA portion of the Rule 5 draft during the winter meetings. (This draft is for players not protected on a team’s 40-man roster that have played in the minor league system for at least either 4 or 5 seasons, depending on their age when signed. This way a team can’t hide a good player in the minors for more than a few seasons.) What this means is that the Marlins have to keep Scott on their AAA roster (or higher) for the duration of the 2007 season or offer him back to the Orioles for a monetary sum. So Lorenzo should get at least some opportunity to prove himself at a higher level.

Now our version of the hot stove league can begin and it’ll be interesting to see how the Orioles decide to staff the Shorebirds next season. April 5th will be here before we know it and we’ll begin to judge our experiences with 7th Inning Stretch, LLC accordingly starting April 13th (or earlier if they do a fan day in March like Comcast did for at least the last two seasons.)

But whoever owns the Shorebirds can look for me there frequently. I have to get my pics for Shorebird of the Week sometime!

Such a hard decision…

This is one of those times you wish events were more spread out over the calendar. There’s not one but TWO large local band shows tonight up in Seaford and over in OC.

In Seaford at Coyote’s the lineup for the “Slower Lower Christmas” is as follows:

Crookedfinger, Third Time Around, Red Number 40, Trip to Hollow, Pirate Radio, and Semiblind. I believe all but Pirate Radio hail from the First State so Seaford is the capital of their music scene for one night.

That show starts at 6:00 and admission is either $5 or three non-perishable food items (for the Food Bank of Delaware.) Coyote’s is located right off the corner of Stein Highway (SR 20) and Atlanta Road. I know right where it is because I bowl at Seaford Lanes next door.

The other show begins at 7:00 at the Sandbar in OC (33rd and Coastal Highway). There’s 9 bands for this one but I don’t have the info about admission cost. The “X106.9 Christmas Cranker” has Falling From Failure, Pirate Radio (doing both venues), The Sophies, Plunge, 7 Days Torn, Agents of the Sun, Havok in Hollywood, Hard$ell, and headlining the gig is Lennex. Should be a pretty packed house by that point.

Of the 14 bands in question, I’ve seen seven of them so I’ll have some new songs to check out regardless of where I go. But it should be fun regardless of venue, and certainly the one in Seaford is for a good cause.

Open letter to Senator-elect Cardin

As I stated yesterday in my last post, I got an e-mail late Wednesday night from Ben Cardin with its subject being his reaction to the Iraq Study Group report. Here’s what he wrote:

Dear Friend,

Today, the Iraq Study Group presented its recommendations to the Bush administration and the American people. I hope President Bush and his top advisers will read them very closely.

After conducting the most in-depth study on the Bush administration’s management of the war in Iraq to date, the bi-partisan commission reached the same basic conclusion that most Americans have already reached for themselves: we need a change of course in Iraq and we need it now.

As the commission notes, the situation in Iraq is in fact “grave and deteriorating.” The Iraqi government needs to take more responsibility, the Bush administration must reach out to the international community, including some of Iraq’s neighbors, and our troops need to start coming home soon.

I believe the decisions we make in the coming weeks and months about our future involvement in Iraq will be among the most important foreign policy decisions of our times. Our approach in Iraq will not only impact the future of that nation, but also the stability of the entire region and America’s standing in the in the world. With so much is at stake, I am honored that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has nominated me to serve on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where I will work with my colleagues to develop a new policy in Iraq when the new Congress convenes.

The Bush administration’s policies in Iraq simply are not working – and everyone seems to recognize that but President Bush himself.

The American people know the status quo isn’t working and they voiced their opposition at the polls last month. Most members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, know it’s not working. Numerous former generals and military experts have spoken out against it too. We now know that even Donald Rumsfeld, just two days before resigning, conceded to the President that the current course in Iraq wasn’t working. Yet, to this day, the President insists on continuing with the same failed policies.

Hopefully now, with the commission’s recommendations in hand, the Bush administration will hear the concerns of the American people and chart a new course. It’s time to finally put forward a strategy to start bringing home our troops safely and honorably.

I believe the Bush administration should implement the commission’s recommendation to start significantly drawing down our troops – particularly the non-combat personnel. As the commission noted, beginning the process of bringing American troops home will send a strong signal to the Iraqi government that they need to stand up and assume responsibility for their own security.

I voted against the going to war in Iraq four years ago and have remained an outspoken critic of the President’s management of it. Last June, I outlined my own plan for moving forward in Iraq, which like the Iraq Study Group report, included gradually drawing down American troops and aggressively engaging the international community in the rebuilding of Iraq.

The Iraq Study Group’s report has provided the Bush administration with many thoughtful recommendations on how to chart a new course in Iraq. Now it’s time for the Administration to take action – change is long overdue.

Sincerely,

Ben Cardin

After receiving this e-mail I thought this would be a great chance to post about my feelings on the ISG and the Long War in general.

Dear Senator-elect Cardin:

As one of many on your e-mail list because of my interest in political affairs, I am in receipt of your e-mail note of Wednesday, December 6th. To me, it’s quite ironic that the report came out when it did, as the next day we commemorated the 65th anniversary of the previous (to 9/11/01) surprise attack on American soil, Pearl Harbor.

I find it enlightening that you support having a study group to tell us how to conduct warfare. Back in 1941, the only group that mattered was America as a whole, and as a nation we rolled up our sleeves and got to work defending ourselves regardless of cost in material and lives.

But I thought a good, simple to understand analogy would be to compare our war efforts in Iraq to the current success enjoyed by the Baltimore Ravens. In actuality, the scenario I describe becomes quite possible as the remainder of the football season plays out.

Having defeated an opponent in their first round playoff game, the Ravens would find themselves having to make the long trip to San Diego for the next round of the playoffs. During the prior week, the Ravens study film of previous Charger games to determine what tendencies San Diego has and how best to combat them. And once the game starts, they use their strength and power on both offense and defense to jump off to a quick 14-0 lead.

But as any good team would over the course of the game, the Chargers adjust and start to find some of the weaknesses in the Ravens’ attack. Plus, having the advantages of home field and a week off to prepare, San Diego tosses out a few wrinkles that the Ravens weren’t expecting coming in. The combination of these factors knocks the Ravens back on their heels – Baltimore becomes inept at even the simplest tasks of blocking and holding on to the football. Penalties, turnovers, and mistakes compound and by halftime the momentum has shifted and the Chargers have come back to take a 17-14 lead. And the contingent of Ravens fans who were loudly and boisterously cheering on the purple and black early on becomes openly derisive of their chances in the second half while the ever-skeptical “experts” sneer that “we told you that the Ravens weren’t good enough to win.”

Hopefully it was quite easy to determine which parties in the Long War were analogous to the ones in my semi-mythical playoff game. Our country took the fight to the Islamofascist forces much as the Ravens would have to take their playoff fight to San Diego in order to advance.

So halftime has arrived. It seems to me that the course that you seem to advocate (and have all through the campaign) would be for the Ravens to play their second-stringers during the second half and walk off the field after the third quarter. But true Ravens fans would expect their team to make whatever adjustments were necessary and shift tactics back to other areas they were strongest at to come back for the win. To that end, I find it interesting that nowhere in the main body of the ISG report is the word “victory” mentioned aside from the citation that pulling out would hand the terrorist forces a victory.

As I see it, there’s only one good outcome in the Long War. We win. America cannot win this by retreating nor can diplomacy save the day. Five Presidents (since Jimmy Carter in 1979) have had to deal with these terrorists to one degree or another, with the first of many incidents involving Islamic terrorists being the kidnapping of 52 hostages at the American Embassy in Teheran. One of the hostage-takers is a man who the ISG advocates negotiating with!

President Bush said early on that this fight would not be easy nor would it be short. I read a news article the other day that noted we’ve now fought the battles in Iraq on the ground for a longer period than our involvement in World War 2. As the media almost gleefully reports a daily body count and works to move the nation into an anti-war frenzy as occurred with Viet Nam, it makes me wonder if the length of this fight has as much to do with the lack of support from people like you, Senator-elect Cardin, as it does the anti-Semitic, religiously extreme resolve that drives our enemies on the battlefield. We learned today that this resolve may have led a young man to sacrifice himself and kill hundreds of others in an Illinois mall during the holidays if not for good work by FBI agents.

The other good work has been done by many thousands of young men and women who do support our country and what it stands for. Some of them have made the ultimate sacrifice as Derrick Shareef may have planned to as part of jihad. But with any outcome other than our eventual victory, those fine Americans (and other coalition forces) who’ve died in Iraq and Afghanistan die in vain.

Sincerely,

Michael Swartz
www.monoblogue.us

Open invitations

I actually began to write this post earlier tonight but then my cable modem decided to fritz out for some reason. That’s probably a good thing because I started to think after awhile that my tone in the article would’ve been too bitter.

The article came about because I still occasionally get e-mail in the mailbox I established prior to the election for campaign news. And yesterday I got this from Brian Hammock of the Martin O’Malley campaign, under the subject of “Inaugural Workers Needed”:

Dear Michael,

One month ago you helped make history by electing Martin O’Malley as our 61st Governor of Maryland. I’m writing this morning to ask for your help once again as we prepare for the Gubernatorial Inaugural.

Invitations for the inaugural need to be sent out next week. We are looking for volunteers to help assemble the invitations next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at the 5th Regimen Armory in Baltimore (219 Twenty-Ninth Division St, Baltimore, MD 21201). We have three shifts available each day: 3:00 – 5:00pm, 5:00 – 7:00pm, 7:00 – 9:00pm.

This will be a good opportunity to see friends from the campaign and be a part of this historic event. Food and beverages will be provided. Please let me know if you can help and which day/shift you are available. You can let me know by email or call the inaugural office at 410-547-8884 ×200.

Leaving aside the fact I wouldn’t vote for Martin O’Malley for dogcatcher (let alone governor), this got me to thinking about a simple question. Of all the volunteers this envelope-stuffing gig will draw (since that’s basically the purpose), how many of the actual stuffers will have an invite sent to them? They may get a courtesy invitation for helping out, but the real movers and shakers who gave big bucks to O’Malley’s campaign (union leaders, trial lawyers, etc.) are going to be the ones who get access to the more exclusive events. And I doubt the high-dollar donors will be the ones in the trenches doing the grunt work.

I suppose the MBA member with the most cogent thoughts on the subject would be Stephanie of Jousting for Justice, she’s done volunteering for the O’Malley campaign and it’s quite possible she’ll be one of those stuffing the envelopes. But if one were to just glance at the subject line like I did, I would be thinking of helping at the actual inaugural event, not a solicitation to stuff envelopes.

Anyway, on to bigger and better things. I also got another note today from Delegate Jeannie Haddaway that I’m happier to pass along:

Dear Friends,

It’s time once again for the 5th Annual Care & Share Santa Swim!!! The event provides funding for families and senior citizens in Dorchester County that need food, clothing, toys and other items to make their holidays brighter.

My request is that you join Delegate Addie Eckardt and I in the swim (PUHLEASE!!!!) or sponsor us for being brave enough to wear a bathing suit in December. So come cheer us on, jump in with us, or sponsor us with a donation!!!

The event is set for this Saturday, December 9th at the beach at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay resort. Santas will jump in to the brrrr-isk river at 10:00 am (registration starts at 9:30am). There will be awards, refreshments, and other entertainment during this wonderful holiday event – and – don’t forget, the Hyatt has HOT TUBS!! :o)

If you would like to help out, give me a ring at (443) 786-2137 or reply to this email. If you cannot help us this time, please consider joining us for the Polar Bear Plunge in January (to benefit Special Olympics) and say a prayer that it warms up a little before Saturday!!!!

For more info, you can also visit www.votehaddaway.com.

Thanks and Happy Holidays,

Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio

Sorry Jeannie, I don’t think your prayers will be answered. Looks like mid-30’s for temperature with a light wind out of the north.

And wouldn’t you know it, I guess I’m Ben Cardin’s “friend” as well. His campaign dropped a note in my mailbox this evening regarding the Iraq Study Group (or, as Rush Limbaugh calls them, the “Iraq Surrender Group”) and their recommendations. I think I’m going to post on that one tomorrow or Friday.

Just another day with my mailbag. It had actually been quiet for awhile but I guess it’s time to gear up the political machines. We’re only a few weeks away from the resumption of politics-as-usual in both Annapolis and Washington. One thing about having a bipartisan mailbox is it gives me all sorts of opportunities to compare and contrast the two parties, and this example shows why I’m on the right side.

Thoughts on Jim Pelura

In my last post I noted that the incoming head of the Maryland Republican Party was one Jim Pelura. Whether through reading monoblogue or the article in the Baltimore Sun, already several people have the opinion that Dr. Pelura may not have been the best choice, particularly Cato at Delmarva Dealings.

As I noted, I took the time to speak with both Pelura and opponent John White on Friday night as I was making my rounds. I actually enjoyed speaking to both of them and figured either would make a good chairman; however, in the end I thought White would’ve been the better choice and voted accordingly. But I was in a relatively sparse minority as almost 2/3 of the eligible voters at the convention selected Pelura. To me though, it was clear from the start that Pelura was the “establishment” candidate. Several of the e-mails I received in the last couple days before the convention were pro-Pelura and there was one that openly advocated not voting for John White. Nothing wrong with that, obviously some people wanted Pelura to win and stuck their neck out for him. No hard feelings whatsoever.

The most bizarre thing about this chairman election was there were some counties that strongly supported White. He won 8 counties and Baltimore City by a combined 50-11, which was over 70% of his total. Three of our four local counties went into the White column (including Wicomico – Somerset was the lone exception.) The tally in our area was 14-8 White with 7 Pelura votes being Somerset’s. But Pelura pitched shutouts in seven counties and had just one dissenter in three others, which racked up an insurmountable 76-3 margin for the chair.

However, just like the November election that I was on the losing end of for the most part, I’m going to choose to look forward. Here are the items attributed to Pelura that Cato questioned in his post, which actually comes from an Anne Arundel County blog called The Conservative Refuge. I’ll give my thoughts on each afterward.

1) The majority of Marylanders are basically conservative.

To one degree or another, I think Pelura is correct in saying this. Obviously, a place like Takoma Park has the people farthest from this ideal, but in areas like the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland Pelura is spot on, even if there’s more registered Democrats in some counties.

2) The Republican Party of Maryland must reach out to the actual voter and make them feel proud to be Republican.

This comment is pretty much a platitude, on this I have to agree with Cato. Its sentiment is better said in point number 5.

3) The Republican Party should simply promote Republican ideals which will benefit all candidates on the ticket.

I sort of like this “keep it simple stupid” approach because the GOP does have several issues that would appeal to most IF they choose to govern accordingly. Unfortunately, they didn’t do so in Washington over the last 4 to 6 years and that’s why they’re in the minority.

4) There should be active and open cooperation between the Republicans in the House and Senate and the State Party.

Nothing wrong with that. The elected officials should help us out when they can.

5) Most voters want to vote for something or someone and not against something or someone.

On this I agree wholeheartedly. Because disappointed conservatives had no one to vote FOR, the 2006 election was one that was won by a party that simply benefitted by not being in power, as happened in the 1974 post-Watergate election. Did the Democrats really have a lot of bright ideas? Not particularly – at least nothing that rivaled the Reagan “morning in America” or “city on a shining hill” or the Gingrich “Contract With America.” Come to think of it, all the Democrats had in their last big victory (1992) was Bill Clinton’s aw-shucks charm and a country pissed off because of “read my lips” and the Clinton claim of the worst economy in the last 50 years. Times weren’t great in 1991-92 but they weren’t the Great Depression either.

But in talking to Jim Pelura Friday night, I got the impression that he wanted to get a lot more input from the grassroots, which would be folks like me. I think he had a goal of meeting with all 24 local parties in his first year, and I know we here on the Lower Shore can make his life easier because I believe we do tri-county meetings (Worcester, Somerset, Wicomico) three times a year…save him a couple trips. If he wants the party to get away from conservative ideals, he’ll get an earful from us folks down here, particularly me.

I look forward to working with the new Chairman, and hopefully John White will send out a press release of some sort indicating he’ll be happy to support the incoming chair. As I stated at the outset, we had two good candidates running so we were bound to have someone worthy in the role of Chairman. Now it’s time to get cracking on 2008 and 2010, and I have some e-mails to write.

2006 Maryland GOP Fall Convention

The Doubletree Hotel in Annapolis, site of the 2006 Fall Maryland GOP Convention.

The Doubletree Hotel in Annapolis was the site of my first convention as an invited guest. Rather than do a laundry list of all the business that occurred, I’m looking at this post as an opportunity to give some of the flavor of the event, particularly happenings on Friday night. Honestly, a lot of that is because my pictures from today did not turn out well. The ballroom we had the business portion of the convention in was pretty dark and my attempts to compensate for this by changing camera settings made those pictures too blurry for use.

I actually arrived in Annapolis about 4:30 yesterday afternoon and took that time to restudy all of the information I had on our various candidates for party offices. After checking in and receiving my packet, the first event on the agenda was actually the Executive Committee meeting that I sat in on. But at the table where credentials were verified lay some popular stickers:

A sticker sure to be on many GOP cars in the coming four years.

At the beginning of the meeting, outgoing Chairman John Kane joked that anyone chanting “four more years” would be escorted from the room. But he went through a list of things that were accomplished under his tenure, particularly in the financial arena. He reiterated a favorite saying of his, that “the price of relevancy is discipline.” Despite losing the elections this year, the party had become relevent as a legitimate opposition party poised for future growth. National Committeewoman Joyce Lyons Terhes and National Committeeman Louis Pope echoed Kane’s emphasis on where things were successful for the MDGOP in this election cycle and thanked John for his service.

We also heard from some of the auxiliary groups that the Maryland Republican Party affiliates with, as the Young Republicans, College Republicans, and Teenage Republicans all detailed their GOTV efforts in the 2006 elections. The Executive Committee meeting was rather brief, as time was given at the end for the various committees to meet and work out details for the actual meeting held today. With that, most of the group was free to socialize at one of several gatherings in the hotel.

Despite the recent tough election, the GOP elephant was in good spirits.

The outgoing Chairman had a party thrown in his honor.

Chairman candidate Jim Pelura had a large party room as well.

The Maryland YR suite hosted a party well into the night.

One item that Kane also noted was his belief that there should be only one convention a year while the other one could be reserved for regional events. I don’t agree with this approach because I see these conventions as an opportunity to interact with Central Committee folks from all over the state, as well as some of the other people from the host city. In this case, I met several other active Republicans from Anne Arundel County who stopped by to enjoy the socializing, and I’m sure they enjoyed interacting with Republicans from all across Maryland.

In my case, I also took the time to try and have a few minutes with each of the candidates who were running for party offices because I’d gone to the convention with just the information I alluded to in an earlier post. And another oddity was meeting a few people who had Eastern Shore roots but were now living in different areas. They’d see my badge from Wicomico County and ask me, “what part of the county are you from?” And either they would be originally from the county or have close relatives nearby. It’s a real-life example of the theory that we raise and educate young folks who can’t find good-paying jobs here so they move across the bay.

I ended up socializing and schmoozing with many nice folks from all over the state until about the time the clock struck midnight. But the alarm was set for an early start for today.

(One aside regarding the hotel. I had a nice room and its best feature was a Sleep Number bed. Never slept in one before but I have now and I can say that I like it and my Sleep Number for the night was 30. Loved sinking right into that bed, it was cocoonlike. Rush would be proud.)

Either I slept REALLY soundly or my mind was on overdrive because of the events to come today, but I was up at 6:00, in time to see this:

The sun rises over Annapolis.

I went down to breakfast and had a good meal. Our speaker was Cathleen Vitale, who’s a local Anne Arundel County Councilwoman and their representative on the state Critical Areas Commission. Her basic themes were learning to tell our story (before the other side does), finding a farm team of candidates from people involved in the community, and setting goals on a regular basis. She likened these achievements to making a playbook for use in this and future election cycles.

The convention hall awaits the transaction of our business.

After breakfast, the actual business meeting began. When I posted about the spring convention in Cambridge, I noted that there was a rather hastily drafted change to the by-laws to allow for regional chairs rather than the vice chairs that the state had at the time. But after reviewing the proceedings later, it was concluded that these changes weren’t properly made per the rules and we would have to revert to the old system of electing three vice-chairs. This led to some confusion among the gathering who were expecting to vote for regional chairs. It’s a problem sure to be revisited in the spring (this time with proper notice, which was the issue.) But the party should be commended for making sure things are done by the book, unlike some other parties who like to make things up as they go. So despite the overwhelming support for the idea in May, it was accepted that the old system would be kept in place until the changes are made properly and to me that is the correct course to take.

Once again, the reports were given much as the Executive Committee meeting’s were. But we also had other speakers who were allowed to address the 205 Central Committee members in attendance (plus guests.) Both of our “downticket” competitors in November, Anne McCarthy (Comptroller) and Scott Rolle (Attorney General) made remarks. Particularly interesting to me was the degree to which they were outspent in their races. McCarthy noted that she spent 7 cents per vote to Democrat Peter Franchot’s dollar plus; while Rolle claimed he was outspent in an 8:1 ratio. But both said they’d “be back” so it’s to be believed they’ll remain in the mix for efforts in 2010.

Two guests were given plenty of time to speak. Both Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and Gov. Bob Ehrlich were introduced to raucous, thunderous ovations. Steele stated that allowed himself to be despondent about the results on election night “for about seven minutes” but at seven minutes and 30 seconds, he was thinking about what was next for himself and the Maryland GOP. This was an opportunity to move on, he continued, and the close races proved once again that the party was “relevant.”

Bob Ehrlich opened by alluding to a sign in his office which reads “No Whining Allowed.” We lost the election but were not defeated, pointing out the difference where losing an election happens but abandoning principles because of losing the election was defeat. He urged the assembled to emphasize his four years of policy successes (he gave a long list of these) and “compare and contrast” the record of his administration to the incoming O’Malley one. This, he added, would require a vigilant effort to track the doings of the new administration – after all, it was pointed out during the convention that Martin O’Malley had pulled down the “promises” portion of his website the moment he was declared the winner.

After our speakers, it was time to elect the new officers. Despite the fact that I seemed to be the kiss of death for the candidates I ended up voting for in each contested race (3 of my 4 that I voted for in contested races lost), I’m still proud to announce the incoming slate running the Maryland Republican Party for the next four years because we had a bushel of excellent choices where we pretty much couldn’t go wrong. For the next four years, these are the leaders of the Maryland GOP.

Chair: Jim Pelura (Anne Arundel County)
1st Vice Chair: Chris Cavey (Baltimore County)
2nd Vice Chair: Chuck Gast (Anne Arundel County)
3rd Vice Chair: Mike Geppi (Harford County)
Secretary: Rex Reed (Montgomery County)
Treasurer: Chris Rosenthal (Anne Arundel County. He’s a Salisbury native.)

With that, we finally ended a long morning (into early afternoon) of business and adjourned to a farewell lunch where we heard from some of the winners. In a nod to my argument that we should remain with the two conventions a year, I’d like to note that at breakfast I sat with nice folks from Frederick and Garrett counties, but at lunch we had an all-Eastern Shore table with Wicomico, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot represented.

Now that I’ve actually been sworn in and got to go through my first full convention, I can say that I truly enjoyed the experience and can’t wait for the next one. Hopefully I’ve made a few friends along the way, or at least now people can put a face to a name that’s on the list of Wicomico County members. If they are relatively diligent about “turns” (and want to save my friends in Western Maryland another long drive) it’s likely time for that side of the state to get a convention, but we’ll see. Somewhere about March I should be given the time and place, and I look forward to another great political experience.

monoblogue turns one

*Before I start, I’ve updated information on Mike Lewis’s swearing in below.*

Today is the first anniversary of monoblogue. One year ago, I made my first post for this website. In that year, I’ve achieved some of my goals for the site while others are still in the process of being worked on.

One goal that I’ve far exceeded is readership. On my previous blog site, my best week readership-wise was 197 readers (according to my Site Meter) but generally I would get between 30 and 50 readers a week. I was hoping for 100-200 a week from monoblogue but here are my best readership weeks for each month since I added the Site Meter to this site in April:

April – 229
May – 261
June – 291
July – 541
August – 556
September – 708
October – 806
November – 867

It’s actually leveled off somewhat since the election (back to about 600 readers per week or so) but I’m betting you’ll find this to be the case at many political websites, particularly in my case since monoblogue was a good conduit for finding candidate information. Anyway, as you can tell my goals were blown away early. Now I’m trying for my first four-figure readership week.

Also, the number of links to monoblogue from other sources has risen. For much of that I’m indebted to the fellow members of the Maryland Bloggers Alliance, a family of now 15 fine blogs from around the state that are generally political but also touch on many other topics. In its first year the MBA has grown from the original two members (Pillage Idiot and Soccer Dad) to its current state. My website was the first to be included from outside the Baltimore/DC metro area and still is the sole representative on the Eastern Shore.

Probably the largest goal I have yet to achieve is getting monoblogue to be a profitable enterprise. Fortunately it’s not a really expensive hobby, but I would like to see SOME income from it. There’s methods of achieving that which I’m going to explore further in year number two.

But overall this has been a good year for my website, and I would consider mine to be in the upper echelon of the local blogosphere. Slowly monoblogue is getting a voice in local and state affairs, and I’m planning on keeping that focus in the days to come. There’s a few things I’m working on for future posts and hopefully these will be enlightening and entertaining once they are posted.

There’s just something about December 1st in my life. It’s also the day I began my first architectural job back in Toledo, Ohio 20 years ago. That career path led me to this area where monoblogue started, so I’m looking to see where my monoblogue path leads me. It’s a journey that I’ll hopefully share with my readers for many years to come.

Late update: December is off to a good start! My latest Site Meter report came in and I topped my old record with 881 visitors according to them.