County Council Woman Elect

I received this from County Council Woman Elect Courtney Watson 

Victory

As the precinct results came in last night, we knew we had a fairly close race on our hands. In the end we won 53% of the vote with a margin of 1263 votes. Mr. Salazar graciously called me this evening to concede the race.

Your Help Made The Difference

Many people supported me in this campaign and that support clearly made the difference. Whether you door knocked with me, sign waved, made a financial contribution, wrote a letter to the editor, stuffed envelopes, sent emails, worked one of many shifts at the polls, or talked to friends – your grassroots support made the difference. Thank you!

The Future

Please feel free to contact me about your concerns in the future. I look forward to hearing from you after a short break to spend time with my family.

Thank You Chris Merdon

Public service requires much personal sacrifice. I know you join me in thanking Chris Merdon for his dedication as our Councilman for the past eight years.

Thank you for your continued support.

Courtney Watson

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Good show Tony. Best wishes to you and to Courtney.

What the Hell Happened?

It’s been two days since the election, and maybe now I can get out from my post-election funk enough to write some coherent observations about Tuesday’s Election results. So much to sort through, it’s hard to know where to start.

It seems that the operative rule to this Election was that all politics are national – reversing Tip O’Neill’s famous rule. The voters were angry at federal Republicans (and not without good reason) and took out their wrath on federal, state and local Republican candidates. How else can you explain that Kay Hartleb – the epitome of competency and public service – won by only 300 votes against a Democratic unknown who didn’t seem to know what the Register of Wills does. Or that Chuck Coles, a competent 16 year veteran judge of the Orphans Court, lost his seat. In that race, four candidates – two Democrats (one an incumbent) and two Republican incumbents – were running for three seats. I have little doubt that had the Democrats fielded a third candidate, Republican Judge Joyce Pope would have lost her seat also.

Ken Ulman winning – with 53% of the vote? I don’t think I’m the only one who thought Chris Merdon had this race in the bag. The earliest vote count posted on Howard Co. GTV showed Merdon leading 50-42. When later results showed Ulman ahead, I thought that either (1) the vote count had been transposed, or (2) only Columbia votes had been counted so far, and that Merdon would pull it out when the rest of the County was counted. Even as I write this, I half-expect that some terrible error will soon be discovered that will reverse this result.

Cardin beating Steele? Not really a surprise overall, but the 8-point margin was still a disappointment given how close the race was supposed to be.

O’Malley over Ehrlich? Painful to behold. In 2002 Ehrlich ran a perfect campaign against a poor candidate, but this time he ran a very good (but not quite perfect) campaign against a strong candidate. It seems that to win statewide office in Maryland, a Republican needs to have a perfect storm against the Democrat.

There’s so much more to consider and discuss. Although I find writing this post to be somewhat therepeutic, I must conclude for now and leave any real analysis – as opposed to these shell-shocked observations – to another day.

The Critic

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who errs, and comes short again and again (but)… who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt (1910)