Campaign trail winds through Salisbury
Over the weekend I happened to catch two appearances by the major-party hopefuls in the 1st Congressional District. On Saturday Andy Harris stopped by on his way about the Lower Shore for about 45 minutes and waved to the hundreds of passers-by going eastbound on Route 50.
He had a little bit of help from local GOP volunteers too. We were out for about 1 1/2 hours on Saturday morning after the same time devotion Friday evening, watching and waving our signs to hundreds and hundreds of passing cars. Reaction seemed to be in our favor, we were guessing three thumbs-up for every thumbs-down or middle finger raised. It wasn't all Harris, we were also doing McCain as well. (No McCain/Palin signs yet - those may get an even better reaction. Personally, given the choice if one of the two were to make an Eastern Shore appearance I think the majority may prefer Governor Palin.)
On Sunday, less than a mile away, Democrat opponent Frank Kratovil took himself out to the ballgame.
He also brought a few dozen friends with him, their yellow shirts sort of clashing with the hundreds of orange Orioles shirts given out as part of a promotion.
As a comparison, here's some of the photography from Andy Harris's Shorebird game appearance back in July. And if you're looking for some sort of symbolism in the team's performance, here's the two games in question:
July 25th: Lexington 5, Delmarva 0; attendance was 6,706.
August 31st: Lakewood 5, Delmarva 4; attendance was 4,214.
Unlike after the Harris game, the Kratovil campaign didn't put together a commercial specifically for the occasion or sponsor fireworks. Definitely a missed opportunity for their side with a somewhat captive audience. But count on both to be around more and more as most folks begin to pay attention to the race and the days leading to November 4th dwindle down.