The Year That Was 2008

Yes, it's time for the 2008 Awards. Last year's post is available here, the one from 2006 here, and the one from 2005 is available here.

Best Move of 2008: John McCain picks Sarah Palin
2007 Winner: Peter Angelos hires Andy MacPhail
2006 Winner: Ravens trade for Steve McNair
2005 Winner: John Roberts Appointed as Chief Justice

My defense of the choice of Governor Palin has been noted before, as has the fact that I was cheerleading this selection as early as last February. But I stand by what I said; John McCain did not run a particularly good campaign (see Worst Run Campaigns) but his pick of Sarah Palin was spot on since it motivated the base and saved us from enduring a filibuster-proof majority in the US Senate. I only wish that McCain showed some loyalty to the running mate that served her party so well this year...

Honorable Mention: Ravens hire John Harbaugh; Ravens draft Joe Flacco; John Flynn out as MD GOP Executive Director;

Worst Move of 2008: Federal Bailouts
2007 "Winner": General Assembly, Leopold impose School Board "reforms" <>Miers appointed to Supreme Court, Rafael Palmeiro's testimony to Congress

Years from now, people are going to wonder what President Bush and Congress was thinking when they decided to bailout seemingly every business in sight. First is was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Than it was the Banks. Now, it seems like that that Auto Manufacturers are next. Have we gotten to the point where any business is "too big to fail?" Does that mean American families are not organizations that are too big to fail? And does this mean that a Republican President is helping to kill off capitalism as we know it?

Either way, the Bush Administration and Congress completely screwed the pooch on this, and unfortunately I am not sure that the taxpayers are ever going to see a positive benefit. Not a good sign in an economy that already sees government spending too much money and taxing the populace at an untenable rate.

Dishonorable Mention: O'Malley tries to cut the Budget Piecemeal; Seattle Supersonics move to Oklahoma City; Chip Saltsman sends out Obama Parody

Strangest Move of 2008: Being Rod Blagojevich
2007 Winner: John Flynn keeps job as MD GOP Executive Director
2006 Winner: Don Dwyer's May and June
2005 Winner: Martin O'Malley thanks MD4BUSH

You know, it's not that fact that Rod Blagojevich turning out to be a corrupt Chicago politician is all that strange; it's just par for the course and most Chicago politicians turn out to be corrupt one way or another (don't worry, his time will come). What makes Blagojevich a strange ranger is how brazen and how stupid he was about his corruption. Selling off a U.S. Senate seat? Trying to make deals with it over a cell phone? While already under investigation by the Feds? And thinking that this will be the starting point for a future bid for President? Does the term "criminally insane" ring a bell here?

Politics are strange on their best day, but you have to go back to Aaron Burr to find scheming this brazenly bizarre.

Honorable Mention: Auburn hires Gene Chizik; Eliot Sptizer as Client # 9; AFSCME attacks O'Malley for furloughs

Guy I Feel Bad For for 2008: Former U.S. Senator Dean Barkley (IP-MN)
2007 "Winner": Arthur Blank
2006 "Winner": Rick Neuheisel
2005 "Winner": Rick Neuheisel

Dean Barkley is a former United States Senator. You wouldn't know it by the way he was treated in the general election campaign between Senator Norm Coleman and "Comedian" Al Franken. Senator Barkley was relegated to little more than a sideshow in this Senatorial Election that just....will....not.....end. And it's a shame, because Dean Barkley is incredibly more qualified to be a United States Senator than Al Franken coluld ever dream to be.

Honorable Mention: U.S. Senator-in-Waiting Ted Kaufman (D-DE), Former University of Tennessee Football Coach Phil Fulmer, Former Tampa Bay Lightning Coach Barry Melrose

Best Run Campaign(Local Division): None
2007 Winner: Fred Paone for Alderman (R-Annapolis)
2006 Winner: Nic Kipke for Delegate (R-31)
2005 Winner: Jeff Holtzinger for Mayor (R-Frederick)

With no contentious local elections on the Ballot, I don't see how we can declare a winner in this field.

Best Run Campaign(Statewide Division): Donna Edwards for Congress (D-4)
2007 Winner: Donna Edwards for Congress (D-4)
2006 Winner: Michael Steele for US Senate (R)

While I think that some of their tactics were downright bizarre, it's hard to argue with success. And the Edwards Campaign accomplished their longstanding goal of unseating Al Wynn during the February 12th primary.

Honorable Mention: Stop Slots Maryland

Best Run Campaign(National Division): Barack Obama for President (D-IL)
2007 Winner: Bobby Jindal for Governor(R-LA)
2006 Winner: Barack Obama for President (D-IL)
2005 Winner: Paul Hackett for Congress (D-OH)

Like it or not, the Obama Campaign did exactly what they said they were going to do. They built up an enormous base of volunteers, of small donors, of activists. They did it, and they won. Were they helped along by the ineptitude of the McCain campaign? Of course. Were they helped by the unpopularity of President Bush? Obviously. But every time it seemed like there was an opening for McCain, the opening closed rather quickly due to the campaign Obama and his team ran. Sure, the amount of money that they raised was enough to pretty much win an air war through Shock and Awe. But that was only possible through their tremendous ground game efforts.

Conservatives would be wise to study Obama's model closely, to see what we can learn from it.

Honorable Mention: None

Worst Run Campaign(Local Division): None
2007 "Winner": Kieffer Mitchell for Mayor (D-Baltimore)
2006 "Winner": Don Dwyer re-election campaign (R-31)
2005 "Winner": George Kelley for Mayor (R-Annapolis)

Much like in our local best run division, there were not enough local elections to merit consideration.

Worst Run Campaign(Statewide Division): Andy Harris for Congress (R-1)
2007 "Winner": Andy Harris for Congress (R-1)
2006 "Winner": Steven Abrams for Comptroller (R)

Yes, Andy Harris and Chris Meekins team up to win their second consecutive Worst Run Campaign nod. This is what I wrote one year ago:

The Harris Campaign has been one of the most bizarre episodes I have seen in quite some time. From a technical perspective, they are doing almost everything right; getting key endorsements, rallying the base, raising money. It's just that from the strategic perspective, the campaign keeps fumbling over their own feet. It almost as if the gameplan has been: attack, attack, attack. And when somebody criticizes the Harris Campaign, criticize them for attacking. It's been odd because Harris has spent so little time trying to introduce himself to the voters, and so little time talking about what positive changes he would make as a Congressman because his campaign has spent too much time trying to throw Gilchrest and Pipkin under the bus.

Now, tell me how much the general election campaigned mimicked the primary campaign, and you'll understand why Harris and Meekins lost. When you have an unlikeable candidate using unlikeable tactics, you need to put in a little more effort. Harris and Meekins seemed to think that they were unbeatable in this district, and had they run a credible campaign, they would have been. Now, thanks to the incompetence of Harris and Meekins, we have to play offense in this seat in two years, and will probably need to endure another bruising primary before we crown a GOP standardbearer in this district. And let's be honest, the fact that Harris and his hangers-on are trying to throw Jim Pelura under the bus for their incompetence isn't really doing much for people, either.

Dishonorable Mention: Peter Franchot's fledling 2010 Campaign for Governor (D)

Worst Run Campaign(National Division): Andy Harris for Congress (R-MD)
2007 "Winner": The Al Gore Draft Campaign (D-TN)
2006 "Winner": Sen. George Allen's re-election campaign (R-VA)
2005 "Winner": Jerry Kilgore for Governor (R-VA)

Honestly. When you run a campaign this poorly, against a guy whose campaign was exactly run real well (did you see some of the lit pieces, etc. that came from the Kratovil campaign? I've seen more creative writing from middle schoolers), you get extra special recognition in running a tragically bad campaign.

Dishonorable Mention: Sen. Ted Stevens re-election campaign (R-AK); Sen. Elizabeth Dole re-election campaign (R-NC); Jim Gilmore for U.S. Senate (R-VA); John McCain General Election Campaign (R-AZ),

Best International Development: The Surge Continues to Work;
2007 Winner: The Surge in Iraq works
2006 Winner: Saddam Hussein Convicted and Executed
2005 Winner: Free Elections in Iraq
A year ago it seemed almost impossible that the Surge would be the overwhelming success that it is. There really is no need to enunciate upon the point any further, but I tend to believe that history will look favorable upon the Bush Administration for its handling of the Surge. Maybe not so for the rest of the war, but the Surge will be looked at as an unqualified success for years to come.

Honorable Mention: Harper retained as Canadian Prime Minister; Chavez Regime Destabilized

Worst International Developments: World economy goes to hell
2007 "Winner" Vladimir Putin consolidates power to outlast term/The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto
2006 "Winner": Russian President Vladimir Putin begins murdering critics
2005 "Winner": Vladimir Putin's Reforms in Russia

It is hard to say that any international development is worse than the worsening state of the global economy. We realistically have not seen an economic stepback like this since the Great Depression. And that's not a good thing at all when you consider:

• How bad the depression was for people
• How poorly the state and Keynesian economists reacted to the Depression, worsening it by several years; and,
• The millions of people who died in the great global war which got its start, but ultimately ended, the Depression.

While our economic situation here is not on firm footing, we are in a much better situation than many of our allies right now. Sadly, I have a feeling that we have not seen the worst of this.

Dishonorable Mention: Russia and Georgia go to War; Reform in Zimbabwe still stalled, followed by a Cholera Epidemic; The Mumbai Terrorist Attacks; Resurgence of Piracy on the High Seas

Best News of 2008: Ravens make the Playoffs
2007 Winner: Rise of Maryland Blogosphere

Let's face it, with things the way they are, we haven't had a heck of a lot to cheer about around here. But the Ravens 11-5 season under a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback is one such thing. When a lot of people (myself included) didn't expect much from them, they delivered. Let's hope that they kick off 2009 just as impressively by beating Miami on Sunday.

Worst News of 2008: Federal Bailouts
2007 "Winner": O'Malley, General Assembly Democrats Screw Taxpayers
2006 "Winner": Democrats take Congress, Government House

I made the argument earlier about this being the worst move, but it also the worst news sheerly for its impact on local, state, and national policy, as well as the national economic climate, as this one. Unfortunately however, Bailouts were one of the multitude of bad news issues that could have been selected...

Dishonorable Mention: Barack Obama elected President; O'Malley, General Assembly refuse to deal responsibly with budget issues; Crime rate continues to spiral out of control in Baltimore; Mark Teixeira sells out to the Evil Empire;