I got a call last Thursday from the oddest source - Tom LoBianco of the Washington Times. Apparently he's a fan of monoblogue or at least has become familiar with it by reputation. I chatted with him for a few minutes about the feelings the Eastern Shore GOP has about our Congressman, Wayne Gilchrest.
So today I got my daily e-mail update from the Maryland GOP and it had an article by LoBianco on the race. You know I had to check it out. And sure enough:
"When I talk to other Republicans, they're really not enamored with [Mr. Gilchrest's] stances on the issues," said Michael Swartz, a member of the Wicomico Republican Central Committee and author of the Eastern Shore politics blog Monoblogue. "He's ripe for the picking if he's not popular."
Not only did LoBianco spell my name right (unlike some other "journalists" here) and get the name of the blog correct, he actually quoted me pretty closely. Since it was a phone call, I didn't write down just what I said but it sounds like something I would've stated. The only other thing I could've asked for was a link!
But the article was interesting for much more than my quote. I know it's sort of hard to fathom, being just over 6 months removed from the last election and almost 18 months away from the 2008 general, but because of the insanity that drives states to make their primaries earlier and earlier, we'll pick the GOP and Democrat nominees in February. This means that politicians who may in earlier days have gotten this summer off will be right back out on the rubber chicken circuit beginning this summer. It also means that interspersed with the annoying holiday commercials will come the annoying political ones.
I liked the little bit of introduction in the piece we got to the other candidates from both parties. Since I've already talked about Andy Harris I thought it might be good to look at the other side. The two Democrats who've expressed interest are:
Frank Kratovil, a "conservative Eastern Shore prosecutor." However, he wasn't conservative enough not to back the liberal policies of Governor O'Malley during the campaign nor eschew support from O'Malley, Senator Ben Cardin, or state AG Doug Gansler - all varying shades of leftist.
Christopher Robinson, who ran unsuccessfully in 2006. He's described by LoBianco as supporting the death penalty, pro-choice, and for the amnesty bill (my term) before Congress. Of those three positions, I only see one winner on the Eastern Shore. Yet Robinson is correct in one respect, quoted in the Times article as saying, "I just think Mr. Gilchrest is no longer voting the interest of the people of the First District." He's right but the Democrat Party of today is not tolerant of those like onetime Rep. Roy Dyson, who Robinson worked for.
And you know that once candidate websites get established I'll be linking to them. Also, don't be surprised if I dust off my Ten Questions, revised for the 2008 elections. We'll see who has the cajones to answer them. In truth, I can probably use my 2006 ones since those issues by and large still remain on the table. (And they said the last GOP-controlled Congress was a "do-nothing Congress.")
On an unrelated topic, I may end up doing "In print no. 7" later this week as I e-mailed a letter to the Daily Times last night. Think I'll give them until Friday to put it in, otherwise I'll post it here over the weekend. Of course, if they chop up my letter as they've been known to do, I'll put in the actual items I wrote here so you get my true feelings on the matter in question.
Just stirring up the pot a little bit more!