Although the Maryland gubernatorial primary is over a year
away, last Monday morning the 2014 contest began to take shape in earnest with
Harford County Executive David Craig announcing his candidacy for the Maryland
State House.
Outside of Saint Patrick's Hall in Havre de Grace, dark
clouds formed and it threatened to rain. Inside, there was no doubt that
Mr. Craig’s formal announcement has
threatened to shake up the contest for governor by launching what many
political insiders consider to be a serious and credible Republican bid to
regain the governor’s office after eight-years of liberal governance by
Democrat Governor Martin O’Malley.
I felt badly that I was not able to make my way to Harford
County last Monday. Mr. Craig went out of his way to visit Carroll County on
several occasions to lend me a hand when I was an elected official. Over the
years Mr. Craig has been a perfect host for a number of my sojourns to Harford
County.
However, for better or worse, Maryland political campaigns
are more often than not insufferably long and I am only sure that I will be
able to see my old friend Mr. Craig
on
several occasions before the voters have their say on the day of the
Maryland primary election on June 24, 2014. (The general election next is
scheduled for November 4, 2014.)
The next year ought
to have plenty of fodder for political writers and armchair political pundits.
Mr. Craig’s quest for the governor’s office has been one the
worse-kept secrets in Maryland politics for years. Although I never wanted to
ask the obvious and put a friend in an awkward position, even I figured it out
several years ago and I can sometimes be the most inept and oblivious political
junkie in the room.
As recently as January 4, 2012, I wrote in
TheTentacle.com, a reference to
liberal-governance fatigue… As much I admire my old friend Governor O’Malley’s
accomplishments, one may actively debate whether or not he went way too far
with Maryland voters with his uber-liberal approach to government and how much
will O’Malley-fatigue will plague the uphill candidacy of Lt. Gov. Anthony G.
Brown, D, who was the first to formally announce his candidacy - on May 10.
In that January 4, 2012 column, “
Scenarios Abound,”
I observed, “The next big political roundelay in Maryland will not take place
until 2014 and by then chances are most Marylanders – read Democrats – will
have long gotten over any tax increases…
“That is, unless current Harford County Executive and likely
2014 Maryland gubernatorial candidate, David Craig, can remind voters of their
pain...”
On September 10, 2011,
Richard
J. Cross, III, wisely noted, “If history is any guide, 2014 looks like it
will be an anti-establishment year. Maryland voters will be restless after
eight years of Martin O’Malley, just as they were after eight years of William
Donald Schaefer and Parris Glendening.
“Plus, if President Obama is reelected in 2012 and
experiencing the traditional mid-term slump that most presidents do, a
Republican like Craig could benefit from these anti-incumbent forces.”
Another of the many questions is whether or not the
consistent and steady-as-you-go political leadership of Mr. Craig can overcome
the two-to-one lead Democrats hold in the voter rolls.
Mr.
Craig, an accomplished historian and an academic, is well-known for his
measured, thoughtful, and scholarly approach to government. Other than Maryland
State Senator Joe Getty, R-Carroll and Baltimore Counties, and Senate President
Mike Miller, D-Anne Arundel County; few in Maryland state politics today are as
knowledgeable as Mr. Craig about the mysteries of formulating public policy and
how government works.
Whether or not Mr. Craig’s comfortable and easily-accessible
personality, his decades of qualifications and experience, and his government
acumen are enough to overcome the hyper-partisan politics of Maryland will
remain to be seen.
Then again, there are always the bizarre byzantine voodoo mysteries
of Republican primaries. Specifically there is the not-so-small matter that the
hard right wing of the Republican Party hardly ever resists an opportunity to
pee on its own leg and tell you that it is raining. Never in my 60-years have I
ever seen an organization snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as well as the
hard right wing of the Republican Party.
If you will recall; towards the end of the Ellen Sauerbrey
(R) campaign for Maryland governor in 1994 - the hard right wing of the
Republican Party decided that Ellen Sauerbrey was moderating on some core
conservative values. Ultimately this resulted in the hard, uncompromising and
inflexible elements of the right wing of the Republican Party electing Governor
Parris Glendening (D) for 8 years.
And the uncompromising and inflexible elements of the right
wing of the Republican Party worked hard for Governor O’Malley in his
gubernatorial contests with former Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich.
Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat - you have to
admit that this is quite a paradox. I recall that in one of David Horowitz's
books a number of years ago, “The Art of Political War and other Radical
Pursuits,” it begins by saying: "Politics is war, but in America the left
is doing all the shooting. Shell-shocked
conservatives blame their failures on the media or unscrupulous opponents, but
they refuse to name the real culprit – themselves…”
To loosely paraphrase an old partisan aphorism; these days,
the only difference between a Republican and a cannibal is that the cannibal
only eats its enemies.
. . . . . I’m just saying…
+++++++++++++++
June 5, 2013
Craig Steps to the Bottom of The Mountain
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Although the Maryland gubernatorial primary is over a year away, on Monday the 2014 contest began to take shape in earnest with Harford County Executive David Craig announcing his candidacy for the Maryland State House.
May 29, 2013
A Fallen Son of Carroll County
Kevin E. Dayhoff
The weather was perfect for the 146th Memorial Day exercises at the Westminster Cemetery on Monday. The keynote address speaker for the community ritual of spring was Army Sgt. 1st Class Joseph T. Schultz, a North Carroll High School graduate.
May 23, 2013
A Renewed Purpose and Meaning for Pentecost
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Many believe that the current decline in church attendance directly contributes to the erosion of our quality of life, the deterioration of our sense of community and lack of confidence in the future.
May 22, 2013
Pentecost Sunday
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday; the 50 day after Easter and the birthday of the church. Along with Easter and Christmas, Pentecost is one of the three most important holidays in the church. It’s time to renew the spirit of Pentecost in our daily lives. Here’s why.
May 15, 2013
The Spiritual Practice of Shredding Stuff
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Last month my wife and I left our house in the wee-hours of the morning and joined other households in Carroll County for the shared experience of putting box after box of old documents in a large ravenous shredder-truck which devoured the paper voraciously.
May 8, 2013
Another Boot on Your Neck
Kevin E. Dayhoff
On Monday the U.S. Senate voted 69-27 for the Marketplace Fairness Act, which allows states to collect sales taxes on certain online purchases.
May 1, 2013
Alvin Lee is coming home
Kevin E. Dayhoff
It has been almost two-months since British guitarist Alvin Lee, the legendary rock-blues master and lead singer of the band “Ten Years After,” passed away March 6.
April 24, 2013
The Presidents Club
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Last Thursday, Time magazine editors Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy provided a sneak peek into the most exclusive club in the world, “The Presidents Club,” to a crowd that filled McDanielCollege’s Decker Lecture Hall in Westminster.
April 17, 2013
Tragedy Strikes at Heart of America
Kevin E. Dayhoff
The cheers of joy and excitement quickly turned to screams of terror on Monday at 2:50 in the afternoonwhen an act of senseless horror shattered the 117th running of the Boston Marathon, arguable the world’s oldest and most prestigious endurance foot race.
April 10, 2013
March Job Creation Flatlines
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Last Friday the Labor Department announced the unemployment numbers for March and it was not a pretty picture. The Obama Administration quickly mustered the mainstream media and the party faithful spinmeisters to parrot that the numbers were as a result of the sequestration that only took effect at the beginning of the month.
April 3, 2013
Marissa Mayer: The Changing Face of Leadership
Kevin E. Dayhoff
In a recent ‘lean in’ story posted on the new website launched by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Google employee number 20, Marissa Mayer weighed on how she decided to accept the position of president and CEO of Yahoo!
March 27, 2013
Obamacare: The New Repetitive Stress Disorder
Kevin E. Dayhoff
On January 1, 2014, the revolutionary change in how we will receive our healthcare in the future will become fully implemented. Last Saturday was the third anniversary of the law and even the mainstream media, which coordinated its passage, cannot avoid reporting on how it is already making all of us sick.
March 20, 2013
The Economic Roots of Democracy
Kevin E. Dayhoff
On a recent trip to Europe, I found myself reading The Economist while standing on an ancient foundation that dated back to the Bronze Age. This gave me great pause when I considered that literally and figuratively, much of the economic basis of democracy that we enjoy today had its beginnings in ancient Greece.
March 13, 2013
President Obama: The sky is falling
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Almost two weeks have gone by since the so-called “sequester” of the federal budget went into effect and all indications lead us to believe that the Zombie Apocalypse has not happened. Nor has it otherwise resulted in the end of the world as we know it.
March 6, 2013
How I learned to love the sequester
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Last Friday, March 1, the much ballyhooed and overhyped “sequester” of the federal budget began. A key and critical provision of the Budget Control Act of 2011, sequestration was signed into law on August 2, 2011 by President Barack Obama.
February 27, 2013
The new Dali Museum in St. Pete
Kevin E. Dayhoff
The new Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, has now been open for over two-years. The much-anticipated fantastical $36 million, 66,450 square foot museum doubled the capacity of the previous 1982 building that I had the opportunity to in February 2009.
February 20, 2013
A Look Back At The War With Spain
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Early in the morning of last Friday, I found myself pondering a watershed moment in American history in the middle of a cemetery plot for the battleship U.S.S. Mainelocated in the Key West Cemetery, Key West, Florida.
February 13, 2013
A Visit to Ancient Olympia
Kevin E. Dayhoff
A January tour of Greece included an opportunity to get away from the crowds, hectic tourist mainstays and urban landscape of Athens, to venture on the Peloponnesian Peninsula and visit many places, including Mycenae, Nafplion, Epidaurus, and one of the many highlights of the trip – ancient Olympia.
February 6, 2013
Commissioner John L Armacost – R.I.P.
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Many were saddened recently to learn that the well-respected longstanding community leader and former Carroll County commissioner, John L. Armacost, died January 13.
January 30, 2013
Big fat Greek surprises
Kevin E. Dayhoff
In spite of the profoundly dulled senses that come as a result of a day of international travel, Greece takes hold of you the very moment you arrive at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport.
January 23, 2013
Is Charter Right for Carroll County?
Kevin E. Dayhoff
The decision last November by Frederick County voters to go to a Charter form of government has kept local political junkies preoccupied ever since the election results were announced.
January 16, 2013
Letters Reveal Divided Shriver Family
Kevin E. Dayhoff
This Saturday the Historical Society of Carroll County will give a presentation on the letters and documents which shed additional light on the divided loyalties of the Shriver family of Carroll and Frederick counties during the Civil War.
January 15, 2013
Demonstrations in Athens
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Athens, Greece, January 12 – Demonstrators once again took to the streets in central Athens Saturday afternoon, in another of a long series of strikes, demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience that have rocked Greece since a worldwide economic downturn officially got underway in December 2007.
January 9, 2013
Colonial cooking was hard labor
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Cooking in pioneer and colonial Frederick and Carroll County was certainly not the romanticized picture of women wonderfully adorned in long dresses, hovering over large kettles of aromatic delights, cooking over an open fire with a loaf of bread or two strategically placed nearby.
January 2, 2013
Happy New Year – Past and Present
Kevin E. Dayhoff
According to widespread superstition, evil spirits are frightened away by loud noise and this is why we have the tradition of using noisemakers to bring in the New Year.
