As the second-smallest county geographically in Maryland, Howard generally doesn't have the political heft of the state's biggest jurisdictions.
But when the real presidential election is held in Annapolis on Dec. 15, two of the 10 Maryland electors casting ballots for Barack Obama are to be Howard Dels. Guy Guzzone and Elizabeth Bobo, both Democrats.
Neither knows why they were selected by the state party, they said.
Despite the popular vote nationally, the Electoral College, under the law, elects the president, a fact that upset those same Democrats in 2000, when George W. Bush lost the national popular vote but won the electoral tally.
Each state gets one elector for each member of Congress. Guzzone was selected by his party to represent the 3rd District. Bobo will represent the 7th District.
Both plan to bring family members to watch what was in past years considered almost an afterthought. But this year is anything but.
"The Electoral College in some ways is outdated, and some think unnecessary, but it is a part of what the Founding Fathers set up," Guzzone said. "I consider it a big honor."
The delegate's children - Guy Jr., 16, Greer, 12, and Grant, 10 - will be in the Maryland Senate building to witness the vote, he said.
Bobo said some of her children and grandchildren will attend.
"I consider it a huge honor," she said. "I take it very seriously."
Bobo also was surprised to be chosen because she didn't ask for the honor and didn't compete to be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
Despite fitting the pollsters' demographic for Hillary Clinton supporters, Bobo announced for Obama in February. Guzzone was one of three co-chairs of the county's Obama campaign.
Energetic GOP
Howard County Republicans used a General Assembly delegation hearing on local legislation to show that the GOP remains energized despite the drubbing at the polls on Election Day.
The 11 local bills slated for introduction in the 2009 General Assembly will be voted on by the delegation next month, after the 90-day session begins.
Enthusiastic sign-wavers outside school board headquarters and emotional speakers inside at the Nov. 25 hearing made the point clear, though Democrats freely agreed to change an offending bill. Their purpose was to keep people soliciting money out of county roadways, but one portion of the bill would also ban "advertising." That means political sign-waving would be illegal.
