The Day After: A Recap of My Personal Preferences.

Well, I said something over the past week or so about the State Senate MDGOP Primary Race in District 30 between Eric Knowles and Don Quinn being a real barn burner. And after all the votes were counted last night, Quinn leads Knowles by a grand total of 3 votes – 3047 to 3044. How’s THAT for a barn burner? It will obviously be coming down to absentee and provisional ballots to ultimately decide that one, that’s for sure.

Last night’s Primary was an odd one. In other “barn burner” news, Baltimore County GOP Executive Candidate, Tony Campbell, finished 6 votes ahead of his primary opponent, George Harman. This race, I hadn’t predicted to be anywhere near that close, as I figured Campbell would rather easily mop the floor with Harman. It just goes to show how wrong I can be…

If Campbell’s lead holds, he will face Baltimore County Executive, Kevin Kamenetz in November. Good luck with THAT, Tony!

A race that didn’t become a barn burner was the one in which The Rape Whisperer beat Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman. Unbelievable. So are AACO Republicans all that happy and proud to have elected someone I believe is a misogynistic bastard and whose ties to the scandalized John Leopold regime are legend over Ms. Neuman? You get what you deserve in the end, which is something Laura Neuman seems to understand, as she told WBAL Radio this morning…

“The voters made their choice and they chose Delegate Schuh and I respect that,”

Well, maybe Laura Neuman respects that, and even though there’s not a damned thing I can do about it, I sure as Hell don’t. Accept it, yes – respect it, no. I have too much respect for women generally to be able to “respect” a Schuh victory.

(Steve Schuh with John Leopold: He’s Back…kinda, sorta. Same thing. Now, where did I put my damned catheter?)

Still, there were a number of good things that came out of last night – some of the Central Committees, are starting to take on the distinct look of freedom in certain areas, which is always a good thing.

Another really good thing is that Meagan Simonaire got the number 2 slot in the MDGOP primary in District 31B (behind Nic Kipke) – which means that Ms. Simonaire will be in Annapolis come next January as a new Delegate once she breezes past whoever the Hell her Democratic opponent will be. Seriously, I can’t say that Simonaire’s victory was surprising to me. I first met her at an event earlier this year – she had the look of a winner back then. And last night, she proved it. .

In the 4th District, there is a bit of a mixed bag for my personal preferences. To begin with, GOP Delegate Kelly Schulz was handily reelected – and Michael Hough knocked out David Brinkley as the Senator. But Wendi Peters lost and David Vogt apparently won. What the Hell? Kathy Afzali also won reelection to Delegate in the 4th.

In Baltimore County, 3rd District Councilman Todd Huff – who pled guilty to a DUI in 2013 got positively smoked by Delegate Wade Kach, who is apparently looking for yet another pension to retire on, which is (my guess) why he left the MD legislature to make his successful councilmanic run.

And in the 42nd District, DEM State Senator Jim Brochin easily turned back a “challenge” by Union-Darling DEM, Connie DeJuliis, (who was backed by Governor O’Malley and Baltimore County Executive Kamenetz) for the right to be challenged by the GOP’s Dr. Tim Robinson this November. Did anyone –ANYONE – really think DeJuliis had a prayer against Brochin? Anyone?

And, finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the two guys who will go at each other this November for the governorship: Larry Hogan, erstwhile businessman and dodger of questions he doesn’t like, and current LG Anthony Brown, bringer of massive website failures in the name of ObamaCare.

Have we learned nothing yet? Apparently not.

And, what are the odds of Mr. Hogan actually beating LG Brown this November? Not good. Not good at all.

Now, I know that the DEMS have a 2-1 edge in voters over the GOP in Maryland, and all of that. That’s a fact. Another hard fact is the vote totals that each of the primary winners in last night’s races received: For Brown, that total was 236,000 votes (rounded slightly down) and for Hogan, that was 89,000 (also rounded slightly down). That means Brown had gotten 147,000 MORE primary votes than Hogan. In fact, Larry Hogan, in winning the GOP nod, finished behind what the DEMS THIRD PLACE vote getter in the Governor’s race, Heather Mizeur, got – which was 99,913 votes. And, yeah, I know – Unaffiliated voters, YADA, YADA, YADA…and all of that, but still.

Hogan’s been saying all along that he can win in November. And, late last night or very early this morning, one of his top campaign aides, Steve Crim, wrote on his Facebook page, “I believe that we will win.”

Prove it.

Boy, does this election year ever look like a “down ticket” year if the MDGOP wants to have any success in November…

Light at the End of the Tunnel in District 31B

And, so it is with fear (or, perhaps, in joyous anticipation) of AGAIN being accused of defaming someone, I take hands to keyboard and write this blog post:

This year’s primary race for the House of Delegates District 31B promises to be an interesting race. The district currently has two seats, one held by Delegate Steve Schuh, who is running for the Republican nomination for county executive in 2014, and the other held by House Minority Leader Nic Kipke. So, with Schuh gone from the House, win or lose his race for county executive, that leaves one seat to fill.

And, that’s where convicted drunken boater and driver Don Dwyer and 24 year old Meagan Simonaire come into play. A number of candidates whose names I cannot even recall without having to look it up are also running for the GOP – and some sacrificial lamb is running for the Democrats in this heavily Republican district. But, what will those GOP voters do? Reelect Don Dwyer or go for the light at the end of the tunnel and send Meagan Simonaire to Annapolis?

So, having followed the Don Dwyer story just as many of y’all have done, I contacted both him and Ms. Simonaire – daughter of GOP Senator Bryan Simonaire with a couple of questions I (and perhaps some of you) would like to have answered. Here’s my questions and the answers provided, or not provided in Delegate Dyer’s case:

“Hi, Don – Hope you’re doing well. I’ve got a few questions for you. 1) Why should people vote for you considering the boating accident and, 2) Why did you move – was that just to run for reelection? Thanks, Joe”

And, although Don Dwyer saw my questions at 3:22 AM on Monday Morning, I never did get a response. That’s a shame.

Now, I’m not going to beat a dead horse and go on and on about his boating accident here – but a conviction IS a conviction and, as such, should play a role in the minds of the voters as they cast their ballots in this race. And, as concerns my question about Dwyer’s carpetbagging…well, that one should be answered. Considering he’s left his longtime home in Glen Burnie…what I wanted to know was “why?” That’s not so hard, now, is it?

I’ve always liked Don Dwyer – and feel for him on a human level for the mistakes he has made. That being said, I’m glad to have heard from a few people recently that he seems to be “doing fine,” which is a far cry from what I’d heard a few months ago when some folks were doing everything but taking bets on whether or not he’d snuff himself on the House floor during session…or what he might do if he loses this race, which brings us to his top opponent in this race, Meagan Simonaire.

(NRA Member Meagan Simonaire waits her turn to address a rifle association meeting. No, really!)

As concerns Ms. Simonaire, I asked her the simplest question first: Why should people vote for you? She answered me by directing me to her website (www.MegSimonaire.com), before adding that “I am running to make a positive change in Annapolis as I believe too many politicians have lost touch with the people.

From that point, I asked how much her father, Senator Bryan Simonaire, was assisting her in her campaign efforts. She told me that her father is one of her advisors, before adding, however, that “he has his own campaign to run, so I am mainly running the (my own) campaign.”

And then, I had to do it – I asked her what she thinks about Don Dwyer, both as an opponent and on a personal level. And, she kept her answers fair and above board, by responding…

“Regarding Don Dwyer as a person, to be honest I do not know him on a personal basis, so I do not feel qualified to answer that question. Although, I am not running ‘against’ Don Dwyer, but I am running ‘for’ an office of public trust. I will let the people decide who they want representing them.”

Here’s hoping the people of Legislative District 31B make the right decision.