Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Yesterday, I wrote an article entitled, “Negative Advertising: An essential means of voter education.” This piece looks at the flip side of negative advertising. From the campaign’s point of view, it’s as essential to winning as money. In fact, funding negative advertising may just be the primary reason the candidate needs money.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Hi. This is the first of two articles that I’m writing about “negative advertising,” a concept that I believe has been given a bad rap by the media and, most importantly, by the form of it that many well-funded candidates and their political action committees have chosen. This first piece is about its definition and essential role. (As usual, I’m going to write like I know what I’m talking about, leaving it to your comments to help me get it right.)
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
On Monday, May 21, Next Contestant published a piece called “9. Ben Cardin v Dan Bongino: Money buys access.” The article was about campaign financing and, specifically, the $563,946 which Senator Ben Cardin’s campaign has received from 43 organizations related to the health care services industry. Of those 43, the top 2 contributors are the American Medical Association PAC ($141,588) and the American Hospital Association PAC ($64,757). Please refer to the original article for source information.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
I’m thinking of having a debate, a debate between Maryland’s first-term, Democrat incumbent U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and Republican newcomer Dan Bongino. As far as I know, it would be the first blog debate ever. Major newspapers in our market, including The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post, and broadcast television have all but ignored the race since the primary. I think they’re planning on waiting until it’s too late for the newcomer to overcome the incumbent’s huge advantage with respect to name recognition and campaign financing.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
It’s only fair. President Obama wants us to focus on Mitt Romney’s history at Bain Capital, and the media is on that like white on rice – an expression which made more sense before my wife told me that brown rice is better for you, no political metaphor intended.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Why do people and organizations contribute to campaigns? The simple answer is “self-interest.”
People, meaning individuals like you and me, contribute because we feel some affinity for a candidate. We agree with what he or she believes and/or we’re hopeful that the candidate, once in office, will do good for our country, our state, whatever, and for our families. Ours is a relatively small contribution that is passive in that we don’t expect anything specific for our money except to help our candidate get elected. We have no expectation of access or ongoing influence.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Turns out, you don’t always get what you pay for.
Hi. A couple of weeks ago, I published a piece entitled, “Ben Cardin v. Dan Bongino: What exactly has Senator Cardin been doing all this time?” It talked about how ineffective, how inconsequential a legislator Senator Ben Cardin has been during his first term in the Senate.
April 27, 2012
First of all, and perhaps most importantly, this piece has nothing to do with politics per se. I’m a registered Independent with a history of voting for candidates of both party affiliations. What this column is about is how I’m deciding for whom I’ll vote in November.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Hi. Yesterday I posted an article (Ben Cardin v. Dan Bongino: “Next Contestant”) which generated surprisingly strong traffic. My point was that, while Ben Cardin (Democrat), the one-term incumbent U.S. Senator running for reelection in Maryland, was more or less competent, he had failed to make any significant difference toward resolving the major issues of our time.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Hi. This is my third in a series of posts I’ve been writing about Ben Cardin, one-term Democrat incumbent U.S. Senator from Maryland, who is running for reelection against Republican Dan Bongino, who has never held elective office. Links to the other two articles are at the bottom of this piece. Both candidates are good, honest, hardworking, competent people. That said, I’ve decided to vote for Mr. Bongino, the challenger, based on the failure of the incumbent, Mr. Cardin, to address the major problems we are facing with the focus, “all-in” enthusiasm, aggressiveness and effectiveness the timely resolution of these problems demands.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
I’m just a guy, a citizen with a notebook computer who works stupid hours and whose only real hobby is writing. (It’s easy, because I don’t have to get up from my desk and there’s no glue involved. I don’t like glue.) This is my fourth piece on the race between Maryland’s U.S. Senate incumbent, Democrat Ben Cardin, and his opponent, Republican Dan Bongino. If you’re interested, all three previous articles begin with the same “Ben Cardin v. Dan Bongino” that you see in the title above.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Hi. In four previous articles, the ones with titles beginning with “Ben Cardin v. Dan Bongino,” I’ve been making the point that Maryland’s incumbent U.S. Senator, Ben Cardin, who is running against political newcomer Dan Bongino, has failed to perform at a level that warrants his reelection. While Senator Cardin is a good, competent man, his long-term lack of productivity and failure to address our country’s highest priority problems are compelling reasons to vote him out, and Mr. Bongino in.