In every contested primary so far, there are two patterns that have emerged. 1) If the race is close, the media will not call the winner for the conservative candidate against Romney. So far, it has happened to Santorum twice in Iowa and Michigan and Paul once in Maine. 2) If the race is extremely close, the establishment has tried to swing the decision for Mitt Romney. The most egregious case, of course, was the overt cheating in Michigan that changed the rules from a tie of delegates to a win...

According to the MSM, and most people who blindly follow their reports, Mitt Romney won the Michigan primary last night by about 3 points, 41 to 38. However, like the Electoral College, the point of the contest is not to win the popular vote (Gore – 2000) but to win more delegates per state based on the apportionment of those delegates. Michigan’s primary delegate system allows for a set number of delegates to be won by state wide popular vote and the rest to be evenly distributed by...

Mitt Romney should have wrapped up the Republican nomination a long time ago. He has an enormous organizational advantage, the endorsement of a great majority of the Republican party establishment, and a huge money advantage in money raised by his campaign and his superPAC; yet, Romney is fighting for his political life in his birth state against Rick Santorum who was barely a second tier candidate back in the fall of last year. A couple of things to be noted before I continue: 1) I am supporting...

Last night’s debate in Arizona crystallized the nomination race for the remainder of the cycle. To be blunt: There is a Civil War for the heart of the Republican Party between the establishment and the Tea Party insurgency. The establishment’s candidate is Mitt Romney; the insurgency’s candidate is anti-Romney in nature flipping from Gingrich to Santorum but the total percentage of the vote is over 50% in every state’s contest to date. The only variable last night that shifted...

Do people really not pay attention to what is said anymore? Yesterday, while being interview by John King about possible questions Santorum may face as Commander-In-Chief, Santorum was asked about having women in combat roles. Santorum responded with this answer: “Look, I want to create every opportunity for women to be able to serve this country, and they do so in an amazing and wonderful way. They’re a great addition to the – and have been for a long time – to the armed...

Who can beat President Obama in the fall on the Republican side? The question of electability is the main point of concern among Republicans so far in this cycle. To date, a handful of former first-tier candidates have succumbed to the specter of electability including Rick Perry, Tim Pawlenty and yes, even the “perfect candidate” Michelle Bachmann. With only four candidates left in the field, the electability question is even more intense as primary and caucus voters have weighed...

In every presidential cycle, there has been a middle of the pack candidate that has emerged as the antithesis of the favorite of the party establishment. In December of 1991, Bill Clinton was not even mentioned as a leading candidate. In 2008, Barack Obama leapfrogged over John Edwards to begin the longest (and most interesting) nomination battle in the last forty years. Yesterday’s tie between Romney and Santorum is the movement I have been waiting for. This year, the antithesis candidate...

I haven’t written on this page in a while. In the last year, I was elected as a county GOP chair in blue Maryland, then was forced out by my fellow members of the county Republican Central Committee, who felt I was not fit for the office of county chairman because either they thought I was not conservative enough or because I was the only African-American on an all-white central committee (depending on who you ask). It appears that most insiders of the Republican party has lined up behind...

Unless you have been under a rock (maybe not anymore), you have heard that the East Coast experienced an earthquake of about 5.9 a few hours ago. As I put on my FB page, I pray that everyone of my friends, family and yes, even people who get on my nerves are safe and A-OK. Now that I have expressed that heartfelt sentiment, I have one more to add… WE are really spoiled on the East Coast especially in the mid-Atlantic region. In California, this shifting of buildings would have been a nuisance....

I had high hopes for Tim Pawlenty. Besides the fact that he was a conservative governor of a mid-western state that traditionally is about as liberal as my own deep blue state of Maryland, he actually put out policy ideas that made sense and articulated them well enough to get and keep my attention. Unfortunately, as we have seen time and time again, presidential politics is not about making sense or telling people the truth, most often the winner of the competition is the person who can give...

After weeks and weeks of mind-numbing talk from both sides, a compromise solution was finally reached on the debt ceiling crisis yesterday. Pundits are now trying to figure out who won and who lost in the skirmish. From my perspective, the status quo is maintained. President Obama, while disappointing some of the far left, compromised enough to move towards the political center for his re-election campaign next year. The Tea Party activists won a major victory in their effort to reduce the level...

As I read over the post former Governor Sarah Palin placed on Facebook, I have conflicting thoughts on how I feel about the message and the messenger. The message is sound. The freshmen members of the GOP were elected, in part, by Tea Party activists and other Republicans, Independents and yes even some Democrats to deal with the mess of the national debt and the deficit caused by massive overspending on items such as entitlements, subsidies and pork projects throughout the country. The reminder...

In the battle of the debt crisis, one particular bit of triangulation is mostly being overlooked by the media and political pundits. Sure, we know that President Obama is trying his best to pull a Clinton (Bill, not Hillary) out of his hat to survive the 2012 reboot of the presidency. However, the more interesting balancing act to me has been of Speaker of the House John Boehner. Speaker Boehner’s balancing act between the ridiculous debt reduction proposal of Senate Majority Leader Harry...

Scripture reads: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ And they were amazed at him.” (Mark 2:17) In the Book of Mark, our Lord Jesus Christ states that there are some decisions that should be properly left to human government and other issues that clearly belong to God. In our system of government in the United States, the principle of the separation of church and state was designed to accomplish three goals: to protect the citizenry...

As an African-American and a Republican (as was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), I think it is important to clarify the meaning of the phrases “civil discourse” and “civil disobedience.” In the height of the civil rights movement, Dr. King and his followers adapted the strategy of civil disobedience used effectively by Gandhi in India. People from across the country (white and black) came together to speak out about racial inequity, congregated under threat and use of physical...

Last week, when I appeared on the Marc Steiner show after the first Ehrlich – O’Malley debate, I commented on the use of the term “New Americans” by O’Malley. I know that illegal immigration in Baltimore has helped to increase unemployment rates among African-Americans. In 2007, according to the American Community Survey data from the US Census Bureau, black unemployment in Baltimore (ages 16-64) was 6.2% which was 2.4 % higher than the 3.8% average of the overall population. In three...

As a teacher of political science at a local university, and having a strong interest for Governor Ehrlich to win in November, I have been watching the gubernatorial campaign closely. According to a couple of polls (Rasmussen and The Washington Post), Ehrlich trails O’Malley by 8 to 11 points. This week, Ehrlich started his electronic media buys in the DC suburbs so that should level out the playing field but there a few suggestions i would like to offer… 1) Change the Mindset Within...

Happy Sunday everyone! I have a few points to bring up for the beginning of the week (and to end last week)… 1) THANK YOU! On Tuesday, September 14th, I won the race for the Chairmanship of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee. With 99.1% of the vote in, I won by about 1,000 votes out of 30,000 cast. The good news for Republicans is that our turnout in the primary was higher than four years ago and much higher than the Democrat voter turnout. Hopefully, our motivated voter...

This year, the Maryland Republican Party could not find a candidate to run for Attorney General. This means that the incumbent, Doug Gansler has no opposition on the ballot in November. Unfortunately, this will leave him free to meddle in competitive races across Maryland. Today, Politico reports the first salvo of the Gansler crusade to clean up elections. The ban on campaign materials that he deems is misleading. Right now, the ban only impacts Democratic candidates in Prince Georges County....

Every once in a while I like to take out my mostly trusty crystal ball and peer into the future. A Gallup poll released yesterday reports a 10 point advantage for generic Republican candidates for Congress over the Democratic opponents. What does this mean in the real world? In my opinion, Nancy Pelosi is fired as Speaker, probably replaced by John Boehner. On the Senate side, the Democrats may hold onto a one vote majority. However, the difference between a change in the upper house may come...