Out and In

Might have been bitten by a brown recluse spider this afternoon.  Or perhaps a particularly malicious dragonfly.  The welt on my back appears to be subsiding, so most likely the latter.

That sort of thing happens when one wanders too close to Nature.  I was striding past the woods near my house, taking a break from a writing assignment that has been (almost) all-consuming.  So I thought I would distribute some literature for some of my favorite candidates for the Democratic Central Committee.  A respite from the infuriating tedium of writer's block.

Although it was sweltering, and the bucket hat intended to cover my sun-burnt forehead wasn't helpful in maintaining a reasonable human body temperature, it felt invigorating to be outside.  The endorphins were in full-force and nothing would stop the forward march of democracy.

I wonder if House Majority Leader Eric Cantor felt a similar sense of progress, of momentum...at the same hour I was walking the streets of Wilde Lake, as he stood hours away from having his political career upended by previously obscure college professor.  Or did he truly sense the approach of the menace?

Low turnout elections can yield odd outcomes.  If recent history is any indicator, the GOP will take away all of the wrong lessons.  Go hard right.  The voices of Un-reason will cry out...Repeal the 16th Amendment!  Unleash Chiang Kai-shek!   How far will they go? Where will it end?

Oh the cycles of life, growth, decay and death.  And in some cases, re-animation.  Not that I am comparing Howard County Board of Education candidate Corey Andrews to a zombie....at least not the classic, shambling undead.  Perhaps the lightning-fast zombies from World War Z.    In any event, his campaign is moving again, according to a "reconsideration" email he released on Tuesday night.  He goes into a bit of detail regarding what motivated him to suspend his campaign...and what led him to announce his intention to un-suspend it.  Nothing earth-shattering and I am sure the Traditional Media will cover it in short order.

Too much? Too little? Too late? Too weird?  Two weeks until we get some answers.

And if I am not around to write about it on Election Day, it was probably the spider.

Stay tuned, as more will follow.

Brief Thoughts on a Shortened Campaign - Corey Andrews and the HoCo BoE

I am going to limit my commentary on Corey Andrews’ decision to suspend his campaign for the Howard County Board of Education to an off-the-top, visceral response.

It was a bone-headed move.

He should have stayed in the race.  Once you are in, you stay in and fight.  I see no advantage to his cause in removing himself from the field (figuratively speaking of course, as his name will remain on the Primary Election ballot).  Given the rationale he stated in his suspension e-mail, he implicitly acknowledges ceding the field to people he refers to as “bad guys.”  OK, let’s play out this line of thought.  If Mr. Andrews truly believes that “the people of Howard County deserve better,” then wouldn’t it be great if they had alternatives?  Oops. Well, look for one of them on the bench, because he opted to stop playing. That is the opposite of a rallying cry.

Perhaps he is hoping his self-imposed suspension will draw more attention to the race in general and all of the recent HoCo BoE controversies in particular.  If that was the calculus, I don’t think someone carried the two.  It just doesn’t work out.  

As I wrote in my recent post on the Howard County Board of Education candidates, Mr. Andrews did not emerge as “one-to-watch.”  I thought then, as I do now, that better choices exist.  Had I been an Andrews supporter, I would be left feeling disappointed by his decision.  As it is, I shrug, shake my head and move on. 

District 13? Coming up…soon.

Stay tuned, as more will follow.