The Un-Endorsement

Remember how I said that I would not endorse a candidate for Congress in the 1st Congressional District? Well, I'm still not going to endorse a candidate.

However, I am giving an Un-Endorsement. Vote for whomever you want, just don't vote for State Senator Andy Harris.

You know, it kinda bugs me that I am taking such a step since Harris is certainly more along my line of conservative thinking than incumbent Wayne Gilchrest is. But unfortunately, this has little to do with ideology and everything to do with campaign conduct.

Let's face it; the Andy Harris campaign has virtually no substance to it. Ever since Harris jumped into the race, it has been all attack, all the time. It has been incessant attacking of an incumbent Congressman. Then, we had the stupid Banks fiasco where a paranoid campaign sent out feelers accusing Congressman Gilchrest of planting Banks. Then, the guns were trained on State Senator E.J. Pipkin, where the Harris camp has had the audacity to call Pipkin a liberal despite the fact that Pipkin was one of our leading voices against the O'Malley Tax Hikes. Then it turns out that the campaign lied about some of their endorsements as well.

I can't think of one thing that Andy Harris has said he would do for the 1st District of Maryland during this campaign that hasn't been a direct attack on Congressman Gilchrest or Senator Pipkin. If it weren't for the constant drumbeat of attack attack attack, the Harris Campaign would cease to be a campaign for Congress and, if operated in the same manner, would be a Seinfeldian campaign about nothing.

And let's face it, this constant drumbeat of attack attack attack is, frankly, unbecoming of a United States Congressman. Sure, attack ads and comparative literature and TV commercials are part of the campaign landscape, and a useful tool. We as Republicans should be winning on ideas, not the personal attacks that the Harris campaign continues to launch. I mean, this crap is cute if there is a there there, in the campaign; problem is that right now the Harris has no there there.

And if the Harris campaign had spent more than lip-service on issues, then maybe the Harris campaign would not have acted like they were completely panicked by the entrance of Pipkin into the race. And if the Harris campaign had talked more about issues and less about Wayne Gilchrest, Harris probably would have stood a better chance of winning than he does know; certainly, he would have been positioned better to survive Pipkin's entry into the race.

(Incidentally, it is still sad that we are facing a nasty primary at the hands of Harris and his team while our John Flynn can't even bother to recruit a credible candidate to run in the 2nd District)

I've been blunt from the get go that I think Harris is going to lose this campaign, but more and more I come to realize that this is a good thing for Maryland. At the end of the day, the goals of the Republican Party are not served by elected Andy Harris, so I encourage all 1st District residents to vote for somebody else on February 12th...