Category: Personal stuff

Rants, raves, and general stuff about me that’s not related to politics or sports.

The market basket, revisited

Back at the end of April I did a post called “The market basket” where I compared the local grocery store prices. In that post, I noted that I would continue this on a semi-regular basis, and since six months has elapsed I decided to revisit the stores and see how they stack up.

In the interim the Salisbury area has lost a store (the Giant at North Pointe) and plans are afoot to build a Food Lion in Crisfield. If this pans out, the residents of Crisfield will have the next-best option behind Wal-Mart insofar as price goes, and given the distance between Crisfield and Pocomoke, it may be very competitive as long as they hold the Salisbury stores’ prices for the new location.

As a total food bill of the 20 items selected, here’s how the stores compare. (Individual items can be found here on this Word Perfect document.)

Wal-Mart $42.21 (up 0.9% from April)
Food Lion $50.56 (down 3.3% from April)
Giant $55.61 (down 0.3% from April)
Super Fresh $60.40 (up 5.9% from April)

Obviously, a lot of this depends on how many sale prices were in effect in April vs. October (my shopping date was October 29, I just held this for post-election posting.) But the trend has been prices staying pretty much the same over the six month period (except for Super Fresh), which is good news for Delmarva shoppers like myself.

So next April I’ll do this once again and see how prices react, and if Super Fresh can remain in the market. I didn’t know that the Giant that was closed was once a Super Fresh and twice now they’ve been the highest priced competitor in this survey. So it makes me wonder how long Super Fresh can stay in the game.

Wicomico County Veterans Day ceremony

Inspire the youth in peace as they would be in war.

I attended the Wicomico County Veterans Day Ceremony this morning, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as is appropriate. And with the weather today, it felt more like the last ceremony I attended there at Memorial Day.

What I failed to do was take into account the pictures I was taking weren’t going to format into my blog, although I only took a handful during the 15 minute ceremony anyway. Fortunately, I also maintain a Flickr page where today’s photos can be seen (as can ones of the Memorial Day ceremony.) I particularly liked the one of bringing the flags up to full mast.

The program was simply a short presentation with various speakers orating their thoughts on various topics. These topics were: Remembering Our Veterans, On The Home Front, An Incredible Spirit, A Common Aim, Bravery, and A Greater Discipline. There were a couple of passages that I noted and I think should be passed on, one of which began this post. The other speaks about A Greater Discipline. Paraphrasing, with majority rule comes voluntary obedience. As Democrats grumble but comply when placed under Republican rule, so must we Republicans with the new regime in Annapolis come January. However, I submit to the speaker that respect must flow both ways, and, as it is appropriate to question orders when they are contrary to the goals of battle, so too must we question authority when used in an inappropriate manner.

Unlike the solemnity of the Memorial Day ceremony, today’s events serve as a reminder that the military needs to maintain our respect. The military is an oddity in one sense, though – it strengthens and prepares itself for battle in the hope that it’s never used in one, thus the Reagan doctrine, “peace through strength.” Or, as Metallica put it in the song “Don’t Tread On Me”, “to secure peace is to prepare for war.” (That’s a great 4th of July song, by the way.)

So, from me to all of those veterans out there (including my dad), thank you for your service!

Support your local music scene

Project Sideways playing at the Monkey Barrel, November 10, 2006.

Something a lot different this morning. I decided to post this because the fans of monoblogue like content and I haven’t posted in a couple days. That and I needed a break from the political scene, obviously doing that gig for the last several months (entailing running around like a chicken with its head cut off) has sort of cut into other things I enjoy, like seeing some of the local band talent rocking the stage.

This band is called Project Sideways and they are from Salisbury. They were part of a triple bill last night (second band) – unfortunately I only got decent pictures of two of the bands. More unfortunately I didn’t get the name of the opening band, who was a very good outfit as well. The night closed out with a band out of Rockville, I believe they were called No Bones. (My bad hearing, they’re called DayNovo.)

The nameless (thus far) opening band at the Monkey Barrel, November 10, 2006.

As I noted, I didn’t catch the name of this band (but I know it now, thanks to commenter PSRob – this band is called Back Before Dawn), which is too bad because she’s quite a good singer. She even filled in for the Project Sideways vocalist on a version of the Tool song, “Sober.” Hopefully someone reading monoblogue can get me the name of this group (and where they’re playing next.)

If you’re wondering why I took the pictures at the angle I did, one thing I dislike about the setup at Monkey Barrel insofar as pictures are concerned is the big window directly behind the stage, which just kills anything taken with a flash. But that places the piling in the line of sight. I’ve gone to Coyote’s up in Seaford for shows before too and they have a similar situation with a mirror behind the stage (but a clear view otherwise.)

Obviously that doesn’t matter if you’re just there for the tunes, but I enjoy the photography aspect of it as well.

There is another local band I’m planning on seeing next weekend called Halflink. Tonight they are scheduled to play in a competition out in Los Angeles in what’s billed as the 2006 Battle of the Bands. Hopefully it all goes well for them out there! That show next weekend will be at the Cactus Club, which is a venue I’ve yet to visit so we’ll see how that is. Probably more crowded, but that’s all right – these folks need all the support they can get.

Time for healing, time to move on

Aside from the fact this is sort of an election wrapup, it almost would qualify as an “odds and ends” post.

I’m going to start out with a concession. Probably when I do site cleanup this weekend I’ll add it to my template as a more permanent disclaimer, but just so there’s no confusion the opinions expressed on my website are not necessarily those of the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee. (However, they probably should be.)

Now I’m going to do some number crunching. I don’t recall who I said this to but on a couple occasions this week I opined that, in order to win re-election, Governor Ehrlich would have to carry the “out” counties in Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore by at least a 2:1 margin.

What I’ve done is set up two sets of numbers. The first set is the county’s Ehrlich percentage from the 2002 election followed by the October 2002 Republican voter registration percentage in (parentheses).

Western Maryland:

Allegany – 64.2 (47.9)
Frederick – 66.0 (46.4)
Garrett – 73.2 (63.3)
Washington – 68.6 (46.5)

Eastern Shore:

Caroline – 74.7 (40.1)
Cecil – 68.1 (37.7)
Dorchester – 67.2 (34.5)
Kent – 65.0 (36.0)
Queen Anne’s – 74.2 (46.3)
Somerset – 68.3 (31.2)
Talbot – 70.0 (44.8)
WICOMICO – 64.2 (37.4)
Worcester – 64.9 (37.3)

Particularly on the Eastern Shore, Ehrlich got a ton of crossover votes – anywhere from 25% to 35% inroads among registered Democrats and Independents within those nine counties, and about 10-20% in Western Maryland where the GOP has better registration numbers.

Fast forward to 2006. I have the unofficial results from last night (no absentees yet) and the October 2006 GOP registration percentages.

Western Maryland:

Allegany – 56.6 (47.4)
Frederick – 59.4 (45.3)
Garrett – 67.8 (62.3)
Washington – 60.3 (45.9)

Eastern Shore:

Caroline – 65.5 (41.0)
Cecil – 57.5 (39.1)
Dorchester – 61.2 (36.2)
Kent – 54.2 (36.0)
Queen Anne’s – 66.2 (46.9)
Somerset – 59.3 (32.3)
Talbot – 62.9 (44.5)
WICOMICO – 62.4 (38.0)
Worcester – 64.3 (38.9)

Last night the Democrats came home to a much larger extent for Martin O’Malley, and the crossovers were reduced to a figure anywhere from 5% in heavily GOP Garrett County to 27% in Somerset County (which has the lowest GOP registration percentage of the selected group). But no county had a 30% or better switchover as four counties did in 2002. It does say something about the efforts of our tri-county GOP (Somerset, Wicomico, Worcester) that we managed to switch more D/I voters than the average (24-27%) and come closer to that 2/3 we needed on the Eastern Shore. But Garrett County was the only 2/3 county and that would be expected given the 62% GOP registration.

I suppose the other feathers in the cap go to Ellen Andrews and Ann Granados, who managed to almost stem the downward tide that Ehrlich had in his reelection attempt. While all 23 counties and Baltimore City had a lesser percentage for Ehrlich, Worcester County was only off 0.6% and Wicomico second-closest at 1.8%.

I also should congratulate fellow MBA blogger Stephanie Dray, who did some work for the winning campaigns (she was out working the polls and such yesterday as I was – hey Stephanie, take your camera next time!) Today she got to feel the euphoria that comes from working on a campaign and being victorious, while I had the crushing disappointment of seeing the hard work I did pretty much go to waste. It’s been more often than not that I’ve been in the latter category, but that’s not to say I’ll work any less to place myself on the winning GOP side in 2010.

But since Stephanie may have her interest piqued because I linked to her, and since she’s the huge O’Malley fan of our group, I have a couple things to ask about.

Martin O’Malley claimed on literature I acquired that he’d be “(a) governor for all of the Eastern Shore. This literature quoted onetime Governor Harry Hughes about “doing what’s best for the people of Maryland, including protecting the Bay and saving family farms.” Regardless, there are two things I think we on the Shore would like to make sure the governor-elect keeps in mind.

First of all, do not balance the vast amount of spending you’re promising (almost every plank on his platform called for what he liked to term “additional resources”) on the backs of our businesses by raising the sales tax. Because of our geography, the Eastern Shore (and Salisbury in particular, being only 5 miles away) has a competitive disadvantage with sales-tax-free Delaware close by. Increasing the sales tax would only drive more capital over the line – already Route 13 is lined with big-ticket outlets for furniture and used cars and increasing the sales tax would make that disadvantage grow.

The other item cuts to the heart of the pull quote on your literature. Governor Glendening was loathed in these parts because he valued the environment voters of the Western Shore more than the farmers of the Eastern Shore by overregulating what farmers could do. Don’t repeat that mistake. Governor Ehrlich was well-liked around these parts by farm families because he called off the Glendening dogs.

One relief was that the election seemed to go relatively smoothly, and aside from a charge of misleading literature being distributed by the Ehrlich campaign, things went relatively well, particularly for Democrats. (Obviously voting is smooth as glass when they win, as opposed to seemingly always screaming “voter suppression and fraud!” when they don’t.) So we seem to have the computer voting pretty much down.

To me then, that means it’s time to perfect the system even more. Because this was a smooth, fraud-free election and a clear mandate for the Democrats based on the results, they should have nothing to fear by adding the requirement for photo ID’s at polling places – particularly with the Election Day registration that Question 4 would bring about. Heck, Arizona has a voter photo ID requirement (or two non-photo ID’s) and they managed to oust a sitting GOP Congressman (J.D. Hayworth) and pass a minimum wage increase.

So, Governor-elect, add these to your to-do list or we’ll have to make you a one-termer like Governor Ehrlich. People who voted for Ehrlich generally didn’t want the bad things about the city of Baltimore (high crime, lousy schools, oppressive taxes) replicated throughout Maryland, it’s up to you to prove them wrong.

I have one other point to make. Last night I read that the demise of the Charles Jannace write-in campaign (which will probably total 700-800 votes once absentees are counted) coincided with the demise of his Justice For All? blog. Probably most among local blogs, his had most of the local GOP’s collective knickers in a wad, and the blowback from it affected my blog. (Not that I really much cared.)

So now we have three main blogs if you count monoblogue (Duvafiles and Salisbury News being the other two I link to) plus a rapidly growing second tier from both sides of the political aisle (examples are Crabbin’, Delmar Dustpan, integrity only matters sometimes, Westside Wisdom, and What I See and Hear) With the popularity of the free blogging site Blogspot, these “second tier” blogs all have popped up in the last few months.

To make a long story short, we as a group are here to stay. The names may change, but someone will have an opinion about something and write it out, and it may or may not draw favor with the local Republican Party. But they’ll have to learn to deal with them, and my suggestion is to welcome them with open arms because more often than not these folks are average conservative types and it’s good to have them on our side.

Election evening in pictures

Reliving the election of 2006.

Kirk Daugherty with his supporters, including one in an infamous yellow jacket.
Kirk Daugherty with his supporters, including one in an infamous yellow jacket.
Mike Lewis talking with his supporters.
Mike Lewis talking with his supporters.
John Cannon's ladies wave from across the way.
John Cannon’s ladies wave from across the way.
WBOC's reporter interviewing Kirk Daugherty.
WBOC’s reporter interviewing Kirk Daugherty.

By the way, I was interviewed by the Daily Times myself so we’ll see how that turns out.

A couple of Democrat supporters. Until the very end they were rooted in that spot.
A couple of Democrat supporters. Until the very end they were rooted in that spot.
John Cannon's motorhome, which had loudspeakers playing patriotic songs. That's my car in front with its Ehrlich signs.
John Cannon’s motorhome, which had loudspeakers playing patriotic songs. That’s my car in front with its Ehrlich signs.
The last holdout (besides me.) We were both pretty damn soaked by this time, and I had an umbrella!
The last holdout (besides me.) We were both pretty damn soaked by this time, and I had an umbrella!

It was about this time that Bonnie Luna stopped by to personally thank me for helping, and I suspect my mug will be on her website (or in her archives someplace.)

A scene of Bonnie's post-election party.
A scene of Bonnie’s post-election party.
Mary Beth Carozza of Governor Ehrlich's office joins Bonnie and Luis Luna in watching the results.
Mary Beth Carozza of Governor Ehrlich’s office joins Bonnie and Luis Luna in watching the results.

And with that, I’m off to bed. Things didn’t go as well as hoped tonight, but tomorrow the sun comes up and I go back to “normal” life. I have four years to be a thorn in the Democrats’ side.

Election morning in pictures

Hold the mouse over the picture for the caption.

Sheriff candidate Mike Lewis talks to Question A volunteers.

Campaigning wives Faye Holloway and Sarah Gillespie.

Democrats on their side of the street.

Campaigning in a sea of signs.

Dustin Mills, manager of the Michael James campaign.

County Council candidate John Cannon chatting with Sarah Gillespie.

County Council candidate Bill McCain joins the Democrats across the way.

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis campaigning for their son.

A Mathias/Conway van. The four folks in it parked it and left in another car.

Close to the borderline.

The people who were manning this spot went within the 100 foot radius a few times. They were handing out the “teacher-approved” slate (on apple-shaped flyers) plus stuff for Norm Conway.

Question A volunteers. They have a great sign.

Discussing issues with a voter.

The lady in the maroon jacket at the left was one who freely admitted she hadn’t studied up on the candidates so we spent 15-20 minutes with her. She appreciated our efforts, and I think she voted our way.

I’ll not be back until late tonight, but I may post because I’ll be wired from all this and several cans of diet Mountain Dew.

Gilchrest pre-election rally

My server was down last night, I wrote this about 11 p.m. See you at the polls!

Tonight prior to my Central Committee meeting I stopped by a pre-election rally hosted by our Congressman, Wayne Gilchrest.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs.

Some of the approximately 80-100 people in attendance.

As one would expect at a political rally, signs and balloons were plastered throughout the room and I thought turnout was pretty good, I figured close to 100 candidates, volunteers, and Republicans gathered to hear our Congressman and the other candidates in attendance speak. This picture was taken early before the crowd all came in from the lobby.

Congressman Gilchrest addressing the crowd.

Gilchrest spoke of his early days campaigning here in Salisbury and also talked about working together with all people, regardless of party or even nationality, particularly when it came to the Middle East. As an example, Wayne talked about his meeting with the head of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, who is no fan of the Iranian leadership. He also cited President Eisenhower inviting Khrushchev to America after the “we will bury you” speech to the UN, President Kennedy’s diplomacy during the Cuban missile crisis, and Richard Nixon’s trip to China after they threatened us.

Our Congressman is one of those “80%” guys I wrote on previously – I don’t agree too much with his stances on the War on Terror or energy policy, but he’s much closer to my ideal than his opponent is.

Some of our GOP candidates in attendance.

Left to right: County Council District 3 incumbent Gail Bartkovich, Gilchrest, District 38A Delegate Page Elmore, District 38B officeseeker Michael James, County Council at-large candidate John Cannon, and County Executive hopeful Ron Alessi.

Other GOP candidates who got to speak.

Left to right: Clerk of the Courts hopeful James Gillespie, County Council at-large candidate M.J. Caldwell, Worcester County Commissioner candidate Linda Busick, Sheriff officeseeker Mike Lewis, County Council District 5 aspirant Joe Holloway, County Council District 4 candidate Bryan Brushmiller, Bartkovich, Gilchrest, and Elmore (at podium).

He then introduced the candidates who were in attendance, and each would be given a chance to speak. I had the Central Committee meeting mentioned above so I didn’t stay for the speeches. But I’m sure they did their part to keep the troops motivated for one more day.

So as Rush Limbaugh says, “tomorrow we meet at dawn.” And that’s when I’ll be out – I have a trunkload of Steele signs to place and I’ll be at the appointed polling place right about opening time, ready to sway those last minute voters!

Election Guide 2006

This is going to be all the information I can muster on the election, based on the many posts I’ve done this election season. Don’t forget, I also link to most of these campaigns on my right-hand sidebar.

First of all, here are my overall summaries on various races:

Governor
U.S. Senate
County Executive
House of Delegates/Senate District 37
House of Delegates/Senate District 38

I also attended several candidate forums over the course of the campaign, summarized here (with attendees):

Pittsville (October 12)

Both candidates for Wicomico County Sheriff.
County Council candidates Caldwell (at-large), Holloway (District 5), McCain (at-large), Werkheiser (District 5), Sample-Hughes (District 1, unopposed), Pretl (District 3). Cannon (at-large) was a latecomer.
County Executive candidates Pollitt and Jannace. Rick Pollitt comments on one of my statements here.

The other forums were pre-primary so more participants were invited.

NAACP forum (August 3)

All three State Senate candidates from District 37, along with the five candidates vying for the District 37 Delegate seats.
Delegate Elmore from District 38A, along with all four District 38B contestants.

NAACP forum (July 27)

State’s Attorney (Davis Ruark is unopposed).
All five candidates for Orphan’s Court Judge.
Both candidates for Sheriff.

NAACP forum (July 13)

Register of Wills (Karen Lemon is unopposed).
Both candidates for Clerk of the Court.
County Council candidates Sample-Hughes (District 1, unopposed), Prettyman (District 2, unopposed), both District 3 candidates, David MacLeod (District 4), both District 5 candidates, and at-large candidates McCain, Caldwell, Cannon, and Graf (who is a write-in for the general election after losing the GOP primary.)
County Executive candidates Alessi and Pollitt.

FOP Sheriff’s Forum (July 6)

Both candidates for Sheriff.

Another item that proved to be interesting was the Ten Questions. I actually reuse them on the summaries of the U.S. Senate and General Assembly races, but here’s the link to each individual candidate’s answers.

Kevin Zeese (U.S. Senate)
Lih Young (U.S. Senate). She lost in the Democratic primary but re-entered the Senate race as a write-in. I didn’t know this when I did the summary.
Rich Colburn (Senate District 37)
James Adkins (House of Delegates District 37B)
Addie Eckardt (House of Delegates District 37B)
Patrick Armstrong (House of Delegates District 38A)
Michael James (House of Delegates District 38B)

Additionally, as some of the GOP candidates have been the featured speaker at the Wicomico County Republican Club meetings, here are summaries of what they had to say there. Note that pre-primary, other candidates who lost in September are also featured speakers.

September (John Cannon, M.J. Caldwell, both County Council at-large)
August (Bonnie Luna, District 38B Delegate candidate)
July (Rich Colburn, District 37 Senator, and Mike Lewis, Sheriff)
May (Michael James, District 38B candidate)
March (Ron Alessi, County Executive)

As far as candidates go, I have covered the most of the five recognized write-in candidates someplace in here. Most in Wicomico County are familiar with Charles Jannace’s bid for County Executive, and as alluded to earlier, Lucy Graf is running for County Council at-large again. I also have listed in my Governor’s summary the John Simmins write-in campaign, but was not aware that Charles Ulysses Smith, an also-ran for the Democratic Senate nomination (along with Lih Young, who I discussed earlier as rerunning for U.S. Senate) has also filed as a write-in for Governor.

Finally, I wanted to touch on the various issues that are on the ballot. I’ll start with state issues, and rather than type the whole text out, an explanation prepared by the state is here. (This is an 8 page .pdf file, the final two pages are irrelevant to Wicomico County.) In Wicomico County, we also have Question A, which deals with allowing the Sheriff’s Department collective bargaining power with binding arbitration.

State Question 1 deals with state parklands. In my not-so-humble opinion, this is yet another attempt by the Democrats to both usurp power from and embarrass the Ehrlich Administration. The Question stems from an attempt to sell over 800 acres of surplus state land in St. Mary’s County to a private developer.

I wrote a letter to the Daily Times on this subject back in March of 2005 (pre-blogging days). In part, I argued that:

To me, the word “surplus” implies not needed for any purpose. In an era where the trend is for government to overuse its power of eminent domain, I find returning state land to the private sector (and to tax collection) a refreshing trend…I would like to see a lot more state land turned over for private use. The extra taxes collected could help lower that burden on the rest of us.

As is the case with much of our state government, the Democrats were fine with executive authority when they had the executive. But once Governor Ehrlich came into office, it was no fun anymore. Join me in voting NO on Question 1.

Questions 2 and 3 are a matter of cleaning up judiciary laws. At the risk of allowing frivolous appeals to continue up the court ladder, I’ll vote YES on Question 2 and allow the $10,000 limit by voting YES on Question 3 (with some reservations there too.)

Several election law changes are involved with Question 4. Among them:

E-poll books at each polling place
Separate precincts at college campuses. (I believe SU would be exempt from this as the Asbury UMC is right by campus.)
Supermajority (4 of 5) decisions by the Board of Elections, which is currently 3-2 Republican
Voter registration and absentee voting assistance at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, etc.
Provisions affecting only Baltimore City (and Somerset County)
A study of Election Day voter registration

Because of last four provisions, we don’t need to pass this. This Question came about from the petition drive done this spring to stop early voting (which succeeded in court without needing the petition) so rather than get the half a loaf we would’ve gotten by passing this, we can get the whole enchilada now by dumping this question. Vote NO on Question 4.

Now I turn to Question A. I asked a friend of mine in the Sheriff’s Department who would be the collective bargaining agent for the deputies and was told FOP Lodge 111. This friend gave me a hypothetical:

“…let’s assume that LEOPS is achieved and that may well happen, even if Question A fails. What happens if Question A is voted into law is that the FOP can then demand arbitration on schedules, uniforms, cars, management, etc., which as you are keenly aware of relinqueshes (sic) management issues to the union.”

Here’s the way I look at this. The even better solution would be to elect a Sheriff, County Executive, and County Council who are willing to work in harmony and hammer out the improvements in pay and benefits our law enforcement officers deserve, rather than place all in an acrimonious position from the start by passing Question A. So vote NO on A.

Wow. I believe that’s about it. We do have to reconfirm one judge to the Court of Special Appeals, Ellen L. Hollander. I see no reason not to.

There will be six pages on my particular ballot, and that’s a lot to vote on. Hopefully you’ve been paying attention, and no matter what choices you make I hope they are careful and learned as I advocated in the Daily Times.

Eastern Shore Ehrlich rally

A welcome sight in any parking lot.

Once I saw this lineup of cars, I knew I was in the right place. Today I attended an “Eastern Shore Ehrlich Rally” in Ocean City.

Full house in the Carousel's poolside dining area.

When we got there (I drove up trailing Ellen Andrews and her husband Darryl, with the big Ehrlich sign in my back window) it was a pretty full house. There were 50-60 people there at the peak, pretty good for a Saturday noontime event.

District 38 State Senator J. Lowell Stoltzfus.

After being introduced by Worcester County Ehrlich coordinator Ann Granados, our Senator, Lowell Stoltzfus, spoke briefly about working with Governor Ehrlich for the last four years and looking forward to four more as momentum is shifting toward the GOP in Maryland (and I daresay nationwide.) He also praised the campaign efforts of the next two pictured:

Both District 38 GOP hopefuls were there.

Michael James and Bonnie Luna also addressed the people. James is a quiet man who’s determined to bring Eastern Shore values to Annapolis, while Luna, the more talkative of the two, spoke on her campaign theme of placing people before politics, particularly when it comes to prioritizing spending.

Everyone was sort of clipped in their speeches because there was also to be a scheduled call-in from the Governor himself, which did occur after Luna finished. Ehrlich opened by saying he had good news and bad news…the bad news was that Drew’s ballteam was losing, but the good news was the momentum for his re-election that was building in the polls.

Honestly, the Governor doesn’t really have to give us the time of day – the Eastern Shore is solid Ehrlich/Cox country. In the last election our four-county area voted anywhere from 64.2% to 68.3% for Ehrlich and there’s no reason to expect anything less this time. But every vote counts and it’s nice to know that our hard work is appreciated. Also, the key for Ehrlich is to flip the two District 38B Delegates from two Democrats to two Republicans, helping enable the GOP to have enough members in the House of Delegates to sustain Ehrlich’s vetoes (they need 14 more.) This was another item noted by Stoltzus in his remarks – after almost 15 years without a single veto override in the General Assembly prior to his term, Governor Ehrlich has suffered 40.

After I returned and took a short break at home, I did my part to offset fellow MBA blogger Stephanie Dray as I worked a phone bank for Governor Ehrlich and Michael Steele’s campaigns. By happenstance I drew my newly adopted home precinct so if you live on the east side and close environs of Salisbury, there’s a chance you heard me today (or may tomorrow as I finish the precinct’s list. Waiting on answering machines can take a LONG time.)

We have just over 72 hours until the polls close as I write this. As I wrote to the Daily Times, this is the biennial opportunity for us to determine our country’s direction. Tuesday will determine whether we “cut and run” from the principles of limited government and freedom or embrace them.

Another MBA member

I’ll take a short break from the political world to welcome yet another new member, and once again the MBA is expanding its horizons. The Voltage Gate focuses more on science and its impact on life than it does the political world. Also, Jeremy writes out of Frostburg so finally the cross-state link is pretty much complete and our members span from the hills of Appalachia to the farms of the Eastern Shore.

Hopefully Jeremy isn’t superstitious because he’s the 13th member of the MBA – perhaps that’s why we selected someone with a scientific bent who doesn’t go in for that triskaidekaphobic nonsense. (Gee, there were 6 members when I was added and now we’ve picked up six since. For the moment, I’m the middle man.) So check him out!

Bucking the trend

Until the voters prove me wrong at the polls, I’m optimistic about our chances on Tuesday – not just locally but statewide and nationally too. But yesterday I read a pundit who declared that the GOP is giving up on retaining the U.S. Senate seats in Pennsylvania (Santorum) and Ohio (DeWine) to concentrate on other states where candidates once thought reasonably safe were in trouble. And this was from a nominally conservative author.

I lived in Ohio the last time Senator DeWine was on the ballot in 2000. His reelection that year was considered such a lock that I voted for the Libertarian candidate to try and keep that party on the ballot. Six years later, a combination of a President made unpopular by a constantly carping mainstream media and a scandal called “Coingate” (dug up by my hometown paper) that has tarred the Ohio GOP is resulting in DeWine trailing a liberal Congressman named Sherrod Brown in the polls. Tuesday could well mark the beginning of the end of Mike DeWine’s Senate career and place an Ohio Democrat in the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1998. Or will it? No matter what is said and written about any race, the end result isn’t known until the final ballots are counted. I’ve seen polling margins of as much as 17 points disappear in the final 10 days of a campaign.

But the DeWine situation continues a disagreement I’ve had with the Ohio GOP and to a lesser extent the Maryland state party. It seems to me they listen too much to the so-called “conventional wisdom” and pay too little attention to the actual voters. Mike DeWine is only thrown out of the Senate if the state and national GOP sends the message they’ve given up on him and the voters respond to it.

There were polls in the Maryland media this week showing that the GOP candidates for Attorney General (Scott Rolle) and Comptroller (Anne McCarthy) both trail their Democrat opponents by double-digit margins. But that can all be erased if people who support their campaigns get out to the polls with 100% efficiency. Besides, there’s a pretty good chance that the poll may have been slanted or flawed (consider the source) by its base of responders and the timing of it. After all, how much media in this state worries about what the Eastern Shore thinks?

To me each Election Day I work a poll at is like a Super Bowl – a culmination of a long campaign season. In the 2000 election campaign I was out doing nominating petitions in the dead of an Ohio winter for a State House candidate because the filing deadline was early January for the March primary. (I actually did my personal nominating petition for the county’s central committee in the summer of 1999 for a March 2000 election.) That year turned out to be a full-year process that almost literally started the day after the 1999 municipal elections concluded, so really there wasn’t much of a break between the summer of 1999 and Election Day of 2000.

But I don’t give up on a candidate nor do I give up on races. If we do happen to lose the elections this year, it will hopefully teach us lessons on how we can both educate and motivate the electorate. Unlike the Democrats, who whined after the last three election cycles that “they didn’t get their message out” while desperately trying to obfuscate what they REALLY stood for (bigger, more intrusive government), most of the disappointment with the Republicans is that they have strayed away from their principles. It’s almost a case of trying to out-liberal the Democrats and as the country gets more conservative they’re chasing an ever-shrinking pie of left-wing voters. And part of this is because they know that right-wingers really don’t have a place to go aside from staying home on Election Day.

But rather than throw my hands up in disgust and give up on these politicians, they’re still getting my vote as they should yours. It’s purely logical to think that, if someone feels the same way about 80% of the issues as you do, it’s going to be a lot easier to debate with them about the last 20% of the way and press to get that little extra than it is to start over with a person who only believes in 20% of what you do but talks a good game. Put another way, in 1994 the GOP gained control of Capitol Hill based on the principles encoded in the “Contract With America.” It’s far less likely that if the Democrats regain the majority in Congress (or more locally, take back the governor’s seat) that principles and issues Americans endorsed in 1994 and still believe in today will be advanced.

People may argue that, “well, the Democrats will only be in power for one term and then the GOP will learn its lesson and return in 2008/2010.” I’m sure that the Republicans felt that way after the 1954 Congressional elections as well, figuring a 1956 return was inevitable. But it took the GOP 40 long years to get Congress back and a lot of what conservatives target as “big government programs” were enacted during that four decade period. At 42 years of age, I personally don’t want to grow old waiting for another Congress to advance the principles of conservatism, particularly in the judiciary where we’re just one vacancy away from placing the Supreme Court back into truly Constitutional hands.

If it does come to pass that the Democrats seize back Congress (unfortunately we can’t ask the late Peter Jennings if that event would qualify as a “national temper tantrum” too) and the O’Malley/Cardin team of expansive and intrusive government takes over control of our state, conservatives who stayed home and didn’t vote will certainly be kicking themselves. Worse, it will become a feeding frenzy for the “drive-by media” as the “blue tsunami” angle will certainly be played up. The answer for some elected Republicans, unfortunately, will be to go even more moderate in the hopes of playing to where they percieve the electorate to be and the principles of conservatism will be set back even further.

You know, sometimes I wish the Democrats who get their panties in a bunch about the so-called “domestic spying” program and “eroding civil liberties” would sit down and think (yes I know this can be tough for them at times) about things like private property rights, Massachusetts-style health insurance laws, business licensing, and unfunded mandates – a million and one government regulations and restrictions that place more curbs on our personal freedom than a measure enacted in a time of war and designed to affect only a small portion of Americans who wish to damage our nation by encouraging foes from without. With as much talk as liberals have about wanting to be free from religion in schools and public places, they should be the first to support our war against the Islamofascists since I doubt they have the desire to be converted to Islam at the point of a gun either. Our enemies have no problem with dying for their cause if they take a few “infidels” with them, and they’re more than willing to sacrifice generations until they win their battle to subdue the West and make America their own caliphate.

Twice as a high schooler, I wrote and delivered a prizewinning presentation for the VFW Voice of Democracy contest. One of them had the subject of “My Commitment To My Country” and while I’ve long since misplaced the speech I wrote I’ve maintained the commitment.

A freedom fighter can be described as someone who’s brave and dedicated enough to protect our country, even at the cost of his or her life, in our armed forces. I declined to do that, as I had the fortune of going through draft age in a period where there was none, the 1980’s. But I prefer to think that I do my best freedom fighting and serve out my commitment with the words I write. Aside from that talent, I’m an ordinary citizen who works, pays his taxes, volunteers here and there, and tries to be a net contributor in life rather than a net taker. And I think most Americans are like me in that respect.

So while the state and national Republicans might not like the chances of some candidates, it’s up to the voters to decide. And if they believe as I do that the government that governs best governs least then they’ll touch the screen or punch their ballot for Republican candidates. Then they and I will work on achieving that last 20% of agreement rather than attempting to climb that mountain of an 80% disagreement.