Mobtown Votes
It's Election Day here in Baltimore. Strictly speaking, this is just the primary—the day when local voters select two candidates for each race, the Republican and the winner. We will then wait 14 months for the general election, a weird one-time quirk that, among other effects, has temporarily granted the franchise to high school juniors.
Candidates keep calling us with prerecorded messages, but not one has personally come to our door. That may be a blessing. According to the Baltimore Sun, five candidates for City Council or mayor "have been convicted of serious offenses. Among the charges: impersonating a police officer; handgun violations; credit card theft; breaking and entering. Nearly a dozen other candidates have arrest records, but in each case the charge was dropped."
Baltimore has its own presidential contender, too: one Mildred Glover, who declared her candidacy at her 50th high school reunion in Savannah. Glover is upset that she was not allowed to take part in tonight's Democratic debate at Morgan State University. Notes The Sun: "The plight of unknown presidential candidates fighting unsuccessfully to get into campaign forums is hardly new. What makes Glover's situation unusual is the coincidence that she is being blocked from the stage of a debate being held at the institution where she is a veteran administrator."
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I don’t suppose you’d care to explain how the “one-time quirk” came about?
That chick is the a verteran administrator there?
If they don’t let her in, she should cancel the contract for rental about 2 minutes before show time and have the city police evict everyone immediatly.
-Robert
Steven: The short version is that it was an unforeseen byproduct of a referendum to start holding city and presidential elections at the same time. Baltimore voters approved the referendum in 1999, so the local election won’t take place until next year. Moving the primary, however, apparently requires the assent of the state legislature, which so far hasn’t been willing to get its shit together and fix the problem.
Yes, the legislature was too busy passing a bill declaring walking as the state athletic activity this year to fix the primary problem.
Boy, you could hear the pro-aerobics caucus’s objections ringing all through the streets of Annapolis during that debate.
Here’s a story about it:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46019-2003Sep9.html
Looks like O’Malley is the winner, surprise, surprise. Now it’s only 14 months until it becomes official. Gives him plenty of time to start planning the 2006 run at the Guv’s house. And since he’s going to be running against an incumbent Republican, in a 2/3 Democrat state, and he cannot possibly be as incompetent as KKT; he may as well be planning his run for the White House. I’m guessing 2012 or 2016. I would say I was getting a bit ahead of myself here, but I’ve actually heard this progression discussed by some of the local talking heads.
On a side note, I think he was playing one of his own songs when he came out for his acceptance speech.
I live in the 11th district, and I got a visit from Seipp on Sunday. Nice enough guy, stood around talking with me and my wife for a while even though neither of us could have (or would have) voted for him. He lost though, so I guess he should have ditched us to find people who could.