Republican Candidates

I have a question for The Sun: Why are there caricatures of the four Republican candidates for president on the op-ed page instead of their pictures? The accompanying commentaries were sensitive, heartfelt, real sentiments written by supporters of those candidates and deserved more respect than that. Does The Sun think the 2012 election is a joke or perhaps a slam dunk for President Obama? Hopefully by November 2012 The Sun and the Democrats will get the comeuppance they so richly deserve!

Give some credit to the Republican National Committee for at least recognizing that the Grand Old Party has a bit too much "old" and not enough "grand. " Its recently released 100-page, post-election analysis, put together by veteran party advisers, points out quite correctly that Republicans are stuck in a rigid, 30-year-old ideology. Some of the findings seem pretty obvious. Focus groups called Republicans "stuffy old men," "narrow-minded" and "out of touch. " Well, duh. Any late-night talk show monologue could have revealed those gems (and likely has, repeatedly)

Fans of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" are used to comedian Jon Stewart cracking jokes and generally, well, not being very serious.  Last night, on "The O'Reilly Factor," however, the comedian showed off his serious side -- talking about the Republican presidential candidates and President Barack Obama.  Some interesting topics were discussed:  • Stewart's pick for the best Republican candidate? Either Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney.  • Has Obama met the comedian's expectations?

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot, considered one of the leading prospective Democratic candidates for governor in 2014, said Tuesday that he will instead seek a third term in his current post. In an interview, Franchot, 65, said he made his decision after considering internal polls that showed him a much stronger candidate for re-election than for governor. He said he's happy with what he's doing now — running Maryland's tax system and serving as the state's fiscal watchdog.

There's no disputing that Republicans are surly these days. With the exception of South Carolina, turnout among GOP voters has been tepid. Hordes of commentators, me included, have argued at length that this apathetic grumpiness reflects a deep dissatisfaction with the Republican field. Worse, many Republicans recognize that their cantankerousness over their choices makes things worse. It's a vicious cycle. As George Orwell once wrote: "A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks.

Republican candidates at all levels gathered at a luncheon yesterday to discuss campaign issues and to celebrate their first opportunity in more than 30 years to challenge Democrats in every elected office in the county.The Severna Park Republican Women's Club sponsored the event, which attracted 31 candidates running for offices from governor to House of Delegates to a seat on the Republican Central Committee. The primary is Sept. 13.The top issues for most of the candidates were crime, education and efficiency in government.

Five Republican candidates for County Council are uniting to push a new idea for property tax relief, though Democrats and at least one other Republican are not enthused. Conceived by Greg Fox, a western county District 5 GOP candidate, the proposal would allow people who sell a home in Howard County and then buy another in the county to avoid paying taxes on the full value of their new abode. The idea is to allow people to move a portion of their protection under the county's 5 percent assessment cap from their old home to the new one, though full details have not been developed.

REPUBLICANS IN the House of Representatives had history, money and numbers in their favor in yesterday's elections.Historically, the party holding the White House loses an average of 32 seats in an off-year election. It did not happen yesterday.The GOP spent more money than the Democrats, especially for television ads the last few days before the election. They gambled on using the impeachment issue. It did not make much difference.And the GOP had fewer seats at risk than the Democrats. But the landslide the Republicans were counting on never materialized.

In one of the key political races in Maryland this fall, House Speaker Michael E. Busch and two other Democrats face a challenge from three upstart Republicans looking to topple one of the state's most powerful -- and polarizing -- political leaders. Hard-charging newcomers Ron George, an Annapolis jeweler and Innkeeper; Dr. Ron Elfenbein, a doctor practicing in Baltimore; and Andy Smarick, head of a Washington nonprofit that promotes charter schools, technically are running for any of the three House of Delegates seats in District 30. But, saying they sense Busch is vulnerable, the Republican candidates are knocking on thousands of voters' doors -- accompanied last weekend by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. -- trying to knock down a giant in state politics.

The most nerve-racking moments have already passed for the three Republicans seeking Carroll County commissioner seats. Dean Minnich, Julia Walsh Gouge and Perry L. Jones Jr. fought their way through a brutal 10-candidate primary to win their party's nominations. But the seven weeks since have been easy by comparison, with the remaining candidates agreeing on major issues and even many Democrats saying privately that Republicans probably will capture at least two seats on the three-member board.

The Republican Central Committee of Harford County recently elected Derek J. Howell as its chairman and Teresa Reilly as its vice-chairman. Gregory Johnson and Sharon Price were unanimously re-elected as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. Voting took place Nov. 23. Prior to his election as chairman, Howell told the committee that if elected he would "concentrate on uniting and growing our party. " According to a news release from the committee, in anticipation of being elected chairman, Mr. Howell prepared a memorandum for all Republican Central Committee Members, which, in part, contained his vision for uniting and growing the Republican Party in Harford County.

Ayatollahs seem to just appoint themselves and then start enforcing their own brand of orthodoxy. Grover Norquist has been doing that in the Republican Party for years. Mr. Norquist has never been elected to anything. Nobody ever said he should be in charge of the GOP's true religion (although he claims President Ronald Reagan urged him to found his lobbying group, Americans for Tax Reform). But he certainly has been the Republicans' key political theologian who made opposition to tax increases the party's central tenet for more than 25 years.

In a recent commentary, former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. exhorted Republican candidates not to whine about the allegedly liberal media ("How Republicans win in 2016," Nov. 25). Of course, a few lines earlier, Mr. Ehrlich whined about just that, saying: "Remember that the major media are not exactly even-handed when it comes to candidate foibles. Nine out of 10 journalists vote Democratic. Most possess a left-leaning agenda. " Yet with the possible exception of The New York Times, the major media outlets in this country are owned by large, multinational corporations, most of whose top executives subscribe to a political outlook similar to Mr. Ehrlich's.

At least 54 percent of America's women can be proud to tell their daughters and granddaughters that they stood up to lunacy and prevented making criminals out of women who are raped and then choose to end the pregnancies that result. Yet that was in the GOP party platform, and it was supported by the top of their ticket as well as by 13 of the 33 Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate. That ticket and 10 of those Senate candidates went down to defeat as a result of women's opposition to their position.

The post-debate headlines highlighted the tension and the incumbent's vastly improved performance from their first encounter. The consensus from the polls and pundits is that President Barack Obama got the best of Mitt Romney at the town hall debate at Hofstra University on Tuesday night, and we are inclined to agree. But presidential debates aren't like scholastic competitions, where scores are added up by a bunch of teacher-advisers analyzing points and counter-points and the winner walks off with a trophy.

The fact that Democratic congressional candidate Wendy Rosen voted in both Maryland and Florida proves that voter fraud does exist even though it still is a tiny fraction of the total votes cast. However, we need to look a bit more closely to see the full implications of this incident. Ms. Rosen presumably has a government issued picture ID, yet that did absolutely nothing to prevent voter fraud. Why? Because Ms. Rosen didn't vote in two states in person. Instead, she used absentee ballots, and a picture ID wouldn't have prevented her from doing so. In fact, almost every documented case of voter fraud has been perpetrated via absentee voting, not by in-person voting.

Maryland's primary is now just two weeks away (with early voting starting this Saturday) and - surprise - ballots cast here might even be relevant to the presidential selection process. On Wednesday, Mitt Romney is scheduled to be the first of the Republican candidates to traipse into the Old Line State to state his case for taking home 37 delegates in the winner-take-all event with appearances at theU.S. Naval Academy and in Arbutus and Frederick. For a state dominated by Democrats, this is a rarity that GOP voters should savor.

Residents are invited to three public forums next week to meet candidates running for the school board and other local offices.Each reception will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Manchester municipal building. The schedule is:* School board candidates (nonpartisan) -- Tuesday.* Democratic candidates -- Wednesday.* Republican candidates -- Thursday.Information: 374-9247.

For years, presidents and presidential hopefuls have gone abroad to cast themselves as knowledgeable on world affairs, counting on friendly receptions wherever they go as a respite from the slings and arrows they routinely encounter in campaigning at home. They used to tour what was known as "the 3-I League" - for Ireland, Italy and Israel - in a naked appeal to three of the more prominent ethnic constituencies here, particularly in the Democratic Party. How many votes they got in November for their wanderings was hard to determine, but off they went anyway.

The Economic Club of Annapolis has score an impresive "get" for its May 8 meeting, lining up a speaker whom many consider the most powerful figure in the Republican Party. Grover Norquist, creator and enforcer of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge that Republican candidates are practically obligated to sign, will speak Tuesday at the Anne Arundel County Public Library branch at 1410 West St. The meeting is scheduled to run from 7 to 8:45 p.m. Norquist, founder and president of American for Tax Reform, routinely asks all candidates to promise to oppose any tax increases at all levels of government.