Advice Not Heeded

"Everybody needs to get prepared. Because anybody who thinks that Frank Kratovil is going to be a pushover in the General Election is deluding themselves..."
- Me, 2/14/08

While there was much to learn from John McCain's defeat, there is nothing useful that we can really learn from Andy Harris' defeat. Harris and Chris Meekins managed to find a way to grasp defeat from the jaws of what should have been an easy victory.

Other than an example of how not to run a campaign, nothing much can be gleaned from here...

This is not what my tax dollars are for

The Kratovil for Congress campaign sent around an e-newsletter today, conveniently located at this site, that has an interesting tidbit:

Wednesday, May 7
Hampton Improvement Association
5:00 -6:00 p.m. at Notre Dame Prep, 815 Hampton Lane, Towson. Sen. James Brochin will introduce Frank Kratovil. Call 410.841.3648 for details.

In case you don't know, the 841 exchange is a State Government exchange for legislator's offices. The kind of office for, say, Sen. James Brochin.

I'm pretty sure I don't pay taxes so that legislators can run blatantly political activities out of their offices, so I'd sure like an explanation as to why this is the case in this situation.

Hard to argue with this logic

People need to get in the game, and apparently they needed some....er, extra motivation:

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) challenged Republicans on Tuesday to get off their "dead asses" and start raising money for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

And the Republican leader wasn't the only lawmaker berating his GOP colleagues to raise more money for the committee's March 12 fundraising dinner: According to sources in the room, NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) also used a closed-door session at the Capitol Hill Club on Tuesday to challenge Republicans to raise more campaign cash.

The normally upbeat Cole told Republicans that if they don't start raising more money for the committee, they should get used to life in the minority. Blunt told his colleagues that Sen. John McCain's spot atop the ballot should give Republicans the opening they need to regain their majority.

Well, it's a sad state of affairs if the party in Congress cannot get motivated to try and win back the majority. But these members of Congress do have a responsibility to try to work to restore the majority the way it should be. A lot of these members are Congress are the ones who got us into this mess; they need to do the work to try to get our party and our nation out of this hole.

Of course, one could also argue that if we're having a hard time getting our Representatives motivated, that's probably not a good sign for getting the base motivated. I just hope that notion is incorrect...

Don't Get Cocky

If I can give any one piece of advice to Republicans and the Harris campaign right now it's this: Don't Get Cocky.

The general electorate in the First District has been voting for Wayne Gilchrest for 18 years. They are not prepared to automatically go to the polls and cast a vote for Andy Harris in November. Yes, this is a roughly nine month general election cycle, and yes there is a long road between now and then. But this is no time for complacency. The Harris Campaign successfully made their case to the the conservative Republican primary electorate for the past nine months. The next nine months needs to be spent getting the rest of the electorate on board.

And my Red Maryland compadre Tim Patterson points out this potential roadblock:

Andy Harris lost every county on the Eastern Shore. From Port Deposit to Pocomoke City, Andy Harris lost every single county on the Eastern Shore. The only counties he won are on the Western Shore. Thanks to Parris Glendenning, Mike ManPerm Miller, and then House Speaker Cas Taylor, a State Senator from Baltimore County now will have a chance to represent the Eastern Shore in Congress. How do you think Eastern Shore Republicans will respond to that?

Eastern Shore Republicans are well-known for being quite territorial. I would not discount their displeasure come November. Wayne Gilchrest may have been a RINO, but he was THEIR RINO. One of them.

It's something that needs to be considered when plotting the course ahead for the next nine months. The likelihood of a Harris win is clearly above 50-percent, but it's going to take some effort to make it happen.

Everybody needs to get prepared. Because anybody who thinks that Frank Kratovil is going to be a pushover in the General Election is deluding themselves...

The Brian Griffiths Minute: 02-06-2008

Don't Do Dumb Stuff

I just spoke with one of the campaigns in the First District, and there is an epidemic of sign-stealing and sign desecration happening on the Shore right now. And it appears that signs from all three major candidates are being impacted.

Everybody: knock it off. We lived through this kinda crap in Anne Arundel County back in 2006 and it didn't make anybody look good then, either. And given the tone that this race has taken on, it's like adding gas to a raging fire.

If you're doing it: stop. If you know who's doing it: turn them in.

Where's Andy?

So....where was Andy Harris last night? He certainly didn't bother to show up for work in the State Senate.

Sources tell me that Harris was actually in New York fundraising for his Congressional campaign, but we'll see if the Harris camp puts out an official story...

Donna Edwards gets kiss of death

Yup, she got the MoveOn endorsement, and the folks at Free State Politics are drooling about it.

Given MoveOn's successes, I'm not sure that I'd want the endorsement. Just ask U.S. Senator Ned Lamont...

I see no shortage of humor in the fact that the crew that has been bashing Congressman Al Wynn for accepting out of state PAC money is.....all excited that Donna Edwards has been endorsed by an out of state PAC.

The Brian Griffiths Minute: 01-07-2008 (#2)

Yes, this is a second video posted today...

The Brian Griffiths Minute: 01-07-2008

The Harris Campaign has a truthiness problem

“America is a free country and anyone can run for office. We are glad the only state senator not to endorse Andy finally realizes that Gilchrest should no longer be representing the first congressional district. However, Pipkin and Gilchrest are two tax-and-spend peas in a liberal pod. Andy Harris is the only person in this race who shares the conservative values of the first congressional district.”
- Harris Campaign statement regarding E.J. Pipkin's entrance into the race

So if the Harris folks were telling the truth, why did this happen?

The campaign of State Sen. E.J. Pipkin announced today the endorsement of Senate Minority Leader David R. Brinkley. Pipkin is challenging incumbent Rep. Wayne Gilchrest in the Republican primary in Maryland’s 1st Congressional District.

“Sen. Brinkley is a very-well respected man and an outstanding Republican,” Andi Morony, Pipkin’s press secretary, said in an interview with PolitickerMD.com.

Morony referred to Brinkley’s said the endorsement would “absolutely” help the campaign.

Brinkley, speaking with PolitickerMD.com, said that Pipkin was the “best candidate to keep the (congressional) seat on the Republican side.”

The Harris campaign clearly seems to have a problem with telling the truth, and I have no idea why they would have try to get away with such a major fib on such a minor issue like an endorsement. But it certainly does draw further into question whether or not Andy Harris has the traits we want from a member of Congress....