Data digging...

As anyone who spends much of their time staring at spreadsheets knows, it doesn't take long to get lost in the numbers. Also, it doesn't help if you're dividing your attention between election results and football games, as I did yesterday.

Anyway, after a few hours of "analysis" here is a first cut.

Using the wide angle lens to get a sense of the outcomes of county races by council district, the graph below shows the percentage of votes candidates received in each district. (Note: I've lumped all council candidates into two categories for ease-of-labeling purposes.)

(Click to enlarge the picture.)

Nothing too surprising here. The Democrats won handily in the heavily Democratic districts (mainly, Columbia), with the same being true for Republicans. The only parts approaching anomaly status are:

1. Merdon receiving less than half of the votes cast in his council district (#1)
2. Ulman receiving less votes than Mary Kay Sigaty in his council district (#4)
3. And, Merdon garnering significantly less votes in the Republican stronghold District 5 than Greg Fox

With a systemic registration disadvantage, Merdon needed to have a strong showing in the traditionally Republican areas, as well as capture some additional votes from the more Democratic areas. But, as you can see above, Merdon was unable to outperform any Republican council candidate in the middle three, largely Democratic districts.

I'll probably post charts like this all week, until my Thanksgiving blogging hiatus. Hopefully, by the time I get around to this tomorrow, the Excel-induced blurred vision and lack of perspective will lead to more insightful analysis.

Slow news day...

Really. I'm not just being lazy. The most "newsy" story of the bunch in today's Sun is this piece about Columbia Association easement-granting rights.

Today is the likely start of a slow news week, too. Thanksgiving and all that.

But that's fine; I have more than enough stuff to write about.

Because I lead an incredibly exciting life, I spent Friday night inputting the county election results into a spreadsheet, and today I'll probably geek out on the numbers for a few hours. Even if I don't find anything interesting, you can bank on at least a couple charts and graphs, which are always fun.

Although another local blogger, whose spreadsheet is much more complete than mine, is planning to make the results available for download, if you really can't wait to play with the numbers yourself, let me know and I'll send you a copy of what I have.

(Insert witty title of your choosing)...

So…no recap of last night’s Voices of Vision forum.

It’s not that I don’t want to write about Ann Forsyth’s lecture, which I thought was quite good. I just don’t know what to say…yet.

I will say that I’d really like to read her book Reforming Suburbia, and if a certain fellow HoCo blogger doesn’t find his copy soon, I’ll just have to buy it from Amazon. Forsyth, somewhat surprisingly, doesn’t seem dogmatic about planning and design or dismissive of suburbia, which are refreshing traits to see in an urban-focused academic and make me more interested in her work.

An added bonus of waiting for the recap is that GGP will post her Power Point presentation on the VoV website. Which means a blog post with pictures!

Meanwhile, Washington, DC’s getting greener.

The District is poised to become the first major city in the country to require that private developers build environmentally friendly projects that incorporate energy-saving measures.

By 2012, most large construction in the city -- commercial and city-funded residential -- would have to meet the standards, if the D.C. Council gives final approval to a new bill next month.

The era of "green buildings" would include devices such as low-flow shower heads and recycled materials and would require designing passageways that encourage walking, choosing drought-tolerant plants and improving air quality by reducing the need for artificial heating and cooling.

Although smaller cities, such as Pasadena, Calif., have adopted similar laws, the District would be the first large city to force private developers to meet the standards, said Cliff Majersik of the Institute for Market Transformation, a nonprofit environmental group that promotes green buildings. All 13 council members voted for the measure in a preliminary vote this week. "This is big," Majersik said.

My only response: Where’s our green building law?

(On the whole, a pretty boring post, I know. But it's Friday, and in case you've been living under a rock [or just don't care about these things] the world is most likely going to end tomorrow when The Ohio State University and Michigan take the field in the College Football Game of the…I don't even know, something super big. At least that's what ESPN and it's Sports Friends make it seem like. Anyway, it's probably breaking some rule of sports fandom, but having married a Columbus, Ohio-raised beauty and visited many times The Place The Sun Forgot [my name for central OH], I've become over the last several years a infected by the OSU bug [I think there's something in the water, because Ohioans are freaks for the Buckeyes, and this is coming from someone who knows his share of freaks]. So, this is a long way of saying: a) I’m a little distracted; and b) Go Bucks!)

UPDATE: Speaking of that other HoCo blogger, he's got a recap post of his own about last night's forum. Now, what can I say that he didn't?

Voices...

I'll be at the Voices of Vision forum tonight and should have a report on it tomorrow. A truly dedicated blogger would, of course, file a report tonight. But, in case you haven't heard, Jim and Pam from The Office will be back together tonight and the TiVo will be anxiously awaiting my return. Must See TV, indeed.

Speaking of must see TV, there's an interesting story about The Greatest Show Ever, The Wire, on ESPN.com's Page 2. It's apparently a favorite of athletes ("Half the [Ravens] squad TiVo's it"), which isn't necessarily surprising. What is, at least according to the writer, is how many athletes root for Omar, an incredibly likable, honorable and cold-blooded killer ("A man got to have a code"). He also happens to be proudly gay, something professional athletes tend be a little hostile towards.

"The thing is that's such a small portion of who Omar is," [Ravens receiver Derrick] Mason says. "He is respected because he is tough, he doesn't take any stuff from anybody and he doesn't apologize for anything that he does or who he is."

[Cleveland Cavalier Larry] Hughes says he just "closes his eyes to that part."

"He's one of the best characters on the show," the Cavs guard says. "I think Omar is very believable. If you can have a businessman be on the down low, why can't you have a gangsta?"

Or athlete?

"That's different," Mason says. "Because Omar does his thing but you don't have to be around him all of the time. In football, you spend so much time together and you're in the shower … it's just different. I still think if an athlete comes out, he would be committing professional suicide."

The show's examination of the role sexuality plays in society is yet another one of its most interesting, if sometimes confusing, facets (i.e. Major Rawls's fleeting appearance at a gay bar?), and is another reason why it really is a show without an equal.

At this point, I know it seems like I'm being paid to write positive things about The Wire. Really, I'm just another crazy zealot (though I will say that my experience as a newspaper reporter and an actor should more than qualify me for at least a bit part during the next season, which will shift focus to the city's media).

Quote of the Day Year

"I didn't realize Howard County residents were that stupid." -- Brian Harlin, Republican Party Chairman for Howard County.

In fairness, he is the outgoing chair, if that means anything (not really).

It’s one thing when anonymous commenters call their neighbors stupid. It’s altogether different when a party leader does it, especially in an article about how the GOP plans to retake Howard County in four years because the Democrats are “incompetent.”

You can bet Republicans will be watching the Democrats like a stalker watches his prey. Really! Diligence, not just politics, requires such attention.

But you can also bet that this won’t be the last time you see Harlin’s stupid “stupid” quote, either.

Also worthy of note from the story is this bit:

"I'm very confident in the incompetence of the Democrats," said Brian Harlin, outgoing Republican Party chairman, who expects taxes and spending to rise during the next four years. "If Democrats in this county do what I think they're going to do, we'll be OK."

So, he’s very confident that the Democrats will screw things up, but that’s a good thing, because that means Republicans will win in four years. And we all know the ultimate end is not a great county to live in, but electoral success.

Priorities and prudent word selection are clearly not required to become a GOP chairman in this county.

Moving Goal Posts alert...

I’m not really sure how I feel about this proposal.

A plan to construct age-restricted housing units in Woodbine has ignited concern and, in some instances, opposition from nearby homeowners. The property is located roughly a quarter of a mile north of the intersection of Old Frederick Road and Woodbine Road and adjacent to the Lisbon Center shopping complex.

An ownership group, which includes developer Donald R. Reuwer Jr. and attorney Richard B. Talkin, has proposed constructing 20 units. Planned are five structures, each designed to resemble a large single-family home, and would be restricted to people who are at least 55.

The structures would have a maximum of 5,000 square feet, and each unit within them probably would cost $300,000 to $400,000, Reuwer, president of Land Design & Development Inc., told a gathering of Woodbine residents Thursday night.

Here’s a picture of the multi-unit houses they’re talking about. That one's from Fairfax County and, I believe, contains four units.


I’ve seen houses like this before and I generally think they’re a good way of creating affordable housing in the land of McMansions. But, I’m not sure this is the right place for such housing, particularly considering how far removed from the county’s base of services this area is. So, in that sense, I’m agreeing with the local residents.

What I find most interesting and the reason for the title of this post is this quote:

"You can't buy a house out here for $300,000-$400,000," Sheldon told Reuwer. "We don't want low-income housing out here."

Housing in the $300,000-$400,000 range is now considered “low-income?” Cripes, I must be living in poverty.

And, speaking of affordable housing and moving targets, the task force charged with studying the issue released its report. I’m waiting to actually see the report before commenting with any real substance, but the following excerpt from this story is certainly relevant to the broader point of this post:

The group focused its efforts on households making 110 percent of the median income, or about $100,300.

They chose that income level because it was around the lowest level to afford the average cost of housing in the county, said Leonard Vaughan, director of the county’s Department of Housing and Community Development.

Does that mean we write off those earning less, tell they don’t have a chance to live here anyway? How far to we push the goal posts back before we realize that housing and incomes in our county are so out of balance that something dramatic, something bold must be done to correct the situation? Are we there yet?

If people earning $100,000 are having so much trouble finding housing, I’d say yes.

Tuesday Round Up...

No fancy introduction. No snark. No witticisms. No real insights. Just a quick run down of what's been in the news the last couple days.

Solar lighting on Columbia's pathways? Harper's Choice residents are asking for it as a way to increase safety after dark, which in case you haven't noticed is occurring far too early now. Although they would certainly deter people from loitering on the trails, lights will also create a new set of concerns. First, there are maintenance and performance issues. (I've personally never seen free-standing solar lights that are very bright). Also, lighted areas can create a false sense of security. There are often dead spots between lights, and seeing outside the light field while standing in it is almost impossible, which raises concerns about people with nefarious intentions hiding along the paths. Finally, I'm concerned about treading down a slippery slope; if we allow lights on one section of trail, how long is it until we need to light another (and another and another)?

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What's going on with Route 40? It'll be the subject of a meeting tonight (7 pm), but the bigger point of this story is that the enhancements promised as part of a task force's study just aren't happening fast enough. Why? I'm not sure, but Town Center and Comp Lite seemed to be part of the problem. (Aren't they always?)

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Speaking of routes in need of enhancement, Route 1 was the subject of a meeting today between local and state officials. Specifically discussed were options to improve transportation along the corridor. This story would be much more interesting if it was written tomorrow, recapping the discussion of the meeting. Oh, well.

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Finally, as Howard County goes so goes the state. I'm glad to see that Howard serves as the bellwether for state politics. Does that mean more special treatment (pork!) from politicians looking to secure our support?

Less lameness tomorrow!

Voices of Vision

Nothing of substance to report today. Instead, an announcement.

This Thursday, November 16, General Growth and Howard Community College's Voices of Vision speaker series will feature Ann Forsyth, director of the University of Minnesota's Metropolitan Design Center. The forum will be held at 7 pm in the college's Smith Theater.

Because I'm feeling incredibly lazy, here's what the official announcement had to say about the speaker:

Ann Forsyth's work focuses on the social aspects of physical planning, urban design and urban development. Her academic contributions are numerous and her efforts have been heralded by numerous institutions through awards, citations and fellowships granted for her individual and collaborative professional work. Ms. Forsyth has analyzed the success of planned alternatives to sprawl, extensions between social and ecological values in urban design, resulting in her authoring three books:

• Constructing Suburbs: Competing Voices in a Debate Over Urban Growth
• Reforming Suburbia: The Planned Communities of Irvine, Columbia and The Woodlands
• Designing Small Parks: A Manual for Addressing Social and Ecological Concerns.
  

Sounds interesting.

Sunday Round Up...

It's raining and I'm not feeling particularly inspired. So, I'll keep this short...

In a story about the role Slow Growth played in the county executive election, we get this pearl of wisdom:

"We ran on the right issue of trying to slow the growth in Howard County, improve education and deliver government services at a lower tax rate, but it was the wrong year for Republican candidates," Merdon said. "I don't think growth was an issue in this election. I think George Bush and Iraq were the issue."

I expect to hear these things from disappointed activists, but from the candidate himself, it's unbecoming. The foundation behind the argument that it was All About Bush is that the voters didn't know what or who they were voting for. Although for some that was probably the case, it certainly wasn't universal. And lumping everyone who didn't vote for you into the "ignorant" category isn't necessarily the best way for your local party to win future elections.

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Here's a good summary of the new county council, and here are good responses to the Sun's "We Want Your Opinions" feature that I took issue with last week.

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Finally, I'm glad to see that Columbia Association moving forward with a plan to create a Town Center task force. Others might not be, however:

If the task force is created, [Kings Contrivance board member Phil] Marcus and other members of the board are asking that the group be made up of local experts in fields such as urban planning, sociology, architecture and urban economics.

"Columbia is blessed to have all kinds of experts here who are willing to serve on this, and it will be a great benefit," Marcus said.

I would be willing to bet something of not-insignificant monetary value that a panel of experts in these fields will come up with recommendations for Town Center that are closer to the draft master plan than what others are calling for, even if they couch their recommendations in the basic values of Columbia:

• To build a complete city that meets all the basic needs of its people including housing, jobs, recreation, educational and cultural institutions and health care.
  
• To respect the land.
• To provide for the growth of people.
• To make a profit.

The idea of feasibility is being applied selectively at this point, and CA's panel could add some interesting wrinkles to the discussion. My only wonder is how much weight we give to the findings of such a panel, one that would appear, at least superficially, to resemble the Working Group that "created" Columbia. Ultimately, if their work doesn't match our perceptions, do we seek to discredit them or do we reexamine our own positions? I promise the latter if you do too.

Work in progress...

I'm working on a longer, more meaningful post for later, maybe tomorrow. So, for now, here are a few stray links to keep you interested.

There's a lot of discussion going on about my election recap. Join the fray here.

I've been completely remiss for not linking to the Business Monthly more often. It's been a little hectic around here recently. Anyway, there are several good stories in this month's edition, including this one showing how you can have open space, agricultural preservation and profit all from the same piece of land. And all because of a developer.

I also wanted to link to Dennis Lane's "The Way I See It" column, but it doesn't appear to be online. You can pick up copies of the Business Monthly in several places around the county, though, and I highly recommended reading his piece on Page 11 of the November issue.

Finally, if for no other reason than we could use a few laughs, here's a blog I've been keeping in my back pocket for several months. It's called "The Best of the Bozeman Chronicle Police Reports" and it is basically what it claims to be. The Bozeman Chronicle is the local paper out in Bozeman, Montana, which is near where my sister lives, and its police report section is legendary for its lunacy. Here are a few teasers to make you click the link:

A woman on North 24th Avenue told police her ex-boyfriend was sending her dirty text messages. The ex-boyfriend told police he was receiving harassing phone calls from her. Both of them were told to leave each other alone.

Someone reported a suspicious man at the East Gallatin Recreation Area. The man was just enjoying the sunshine.

A teenager on Driftwood Drive was upset with his parents for making him work all the time. They also don't pay him for the chores. The boy was told to listen to his parents.

And, the obvious winner, which may be below the high standards I set for this blog but is nonetheless hilarious:

A man pooped on his father's vehicle along South Black Avenue.

Oh, the trials and tribulations of the Bozeman Police Department.

Election recap...

With all but a few votes counted, the question now changes from “Who won?” to “Why?”

(Except for the District 1 council seat, which could still go either way depending on those pesky absentee ballots.)

I’m not of sufficiently clear mind to have thought the “Why” question through in any great detail, but others have taken a stab at it and provided several plausible and likely explanations.

First, the Washington Post’s story about the county executive race blames President Bush (typical MSM BDS and whatnot):

The 32-year-old wunderkind of Howard County Democratic politics yesterday became the youngest person elected county executive in Maryland in recent history, cresting to victory on a wave of opposition to President Bush and Congressional Republicans.

In a near Democratic sweep that secured the party's hold on the bellwether county, Ken Ulman defeated his colleague from the County Council, Republican Christopher J. Merdon, and the Democrats picked up a fourth seat on the five-member panel.

The major local issue was how to control the unrelenting growth in Howard. But many voters said yesterday that their primary motivation at the ballot box was animosity toward national GOP leaders.

"This is a message to George W. Bush," said Julie Pogach, 50, a consultant from Clarksville, describing her votes for every Democratic candidate on the ballot. "My anger at him and the Republicans trickles all the way down to the local races."

Voters yesterday said they still cared deeply about the impact of growth on Howard, the third-wealthiest county in the nation and the site of one of the region's best-rated school systems. They expressed concern that an influx of new residents, including many from a planned expansion at nearby Fort Meade, could begin to erode the quality of life in the county.

But many residents said the wonkish debates over growth were so intricate that they could not differentiate between the two candidates. Merdon, a 35-year-old businessman, portrayed himself as the slow-growth candidate and said on his campaign signs, "Vote Slow Growth!" Ulman, a lawyer, disputed his opponent's characterization and attacked him for doing little to control growth in his own council district.

"Everybody says, 'I'm slow growth, I'm slow growth,' but I really don't know who is or who isn't," said Jason Shapiro, 45, an attorney from Columbia. "Who knows what they'll do once they get into office?"

Certainly, the anti-Republican sentiment was strong this election, but the Post’s writer seems to throw all his eggs in this basket, which I think is a bit of a cop out. As for the growth debates being “wonkish” and “intricate,” hey man, that’s what blogs are for: making wonkish accessible and fun.

The other papers posted stories about this race but offered few details beyond “Ulman leading.” The blogs, however, have stepped up to fill the analysis void. Here's Steve Fine:

Ken Ulman won (big) because:

It was a bad year to be a Republican.

The Ulman /O'Malley campaign did a fantastic job, except in the local free media.

The GOTV effort was superbly conceived and executed.

Ken was a much more substantive and sincere candidate.

Merdon's message was flawed: he had a number of pro-growth votes in his own record, while Ken lead the effort to save Meriweather and to create the Charette process.

The Growth issue didn't sway a lot of votes.

I agree with a few of those. First, the GOTV (Get Out The Vote, something I learned yesterday!) was impressive. I heard from several folks that they were disappointed with the lack of Democratic poll workers. Indeed, in my travels yesterday, the Republicans seemed to have numerous bodies at each poll, while the Democrats had significantly fewer.

Well, that is because many of the Democratic workers were out knocking on doors making sure their party-mates had voted. This is what I spent most of my day doing, and we actually had great responses from residents. How many additional voters were generated by this is hard to determine, but surely, it was more than zero.

The point about the dueling growth messages, on the other hand, only partially explains what was going on. Chris Merdon had his vote against Comp Lite as his centerpiece. Ulman had saving Merriweather. One could probably say something about the impact on voter psychology of an inherently negative message – “I’m against…” – versus a more positive message – “I saved…” – but I think that’s going too far.

Really, the success of the competing messages had more to do with the power of the symbols. Merdon voted against an arcane piece of zoning legislation that really upset a few people but failed to show up on the radar screens of most. Ulman saved Merriweather.

(Let’s not argue specifics here about what he did and did not do with respect to the fact that Merriweather remains open. Merdon never challenged this point, which I think says it all.)

Reports from several poll workers were that people did vote for Ulman because of his connection to Merriweather. Even my MoCo father met someone who said they were voting for Ulman because of Merriweather. To be sure, it is a much more powerful and understandable symbol than a zoning bill.

Meanwhile, Wordbones doesn't so much offer reasons for the way things happened as lessons learned:

What messages do I get from the election results?

1) COPE was a big NOPE. Angela Beltram and her minions were less than advertised in influencing voters. Cooler heads prevailed.

2) Democrats for Merdon were a very small group. The only ones behind those individuals who stood beneath the people tree pledging their support to Chris were the gold plated figures on the people tree.

3) We may not now who represents District One until Thursday. Tony did better than many expected him to. This is the one race besides the Governors that could be decided by absentee ballots.

4) Being a member of the Colloseum Gym on Red Branch Road in Columbia continues to be good luck for county exec candidates. Chuck Ecker is a member, Jim Robey is a member and Ken Ulman is a member. Chris Merdon is not a member.

5) The people in Howard County are more informed than I thought. The strongest evidence of that was Allen Dyer failing to win a seat on the school board.

I especially like number 4 (note to self: get a membership). Obviously, Wordbones is having a little fun with some of these, at least I think it's obvious. But he touches on a valid point; namely, the impact of small but vocal constituencies.

Reading the blogs over the last few months likely left most convinced of Republican domination. With so many outspoken critics of the Democrats -- particularly Ulman -- it seemed their loses were foregone conclusions. Which, clearly, was not the case.

As I said in my prediction post, I'm not very sanguine about the influence of blogs or local media in general. We touch only a very small portion of the electorate and the partisanship of cyberspace is considerably out of line with that of the county as a whole. We've created our own consuming reality, in a sense, which served to insulate us from more mainstream voters.

I don't mean to say the blogs are bad or anything like that. It's just that they skew our perspective considerably, something to keep in mind during the next election.

Finally, a few commenters on other blogs have floated the idea that the results of this election are a product of voter stupidity. This explanation deserves no more consideration than a mention. It is completely lacking in class and reason, and is more reflective of those who would resort to it than voters as a whole.

For better examples of how to deal with results that don't go your way, check out both David Keelan's and David Wissing's posts today. I'm sure they didn't want to write those posts as much as I didn't want to have to write one myself, but the fact that they did shows a lot about their character. You guys did great work.

Only three more years until the next election begins!

The morning after...

I've been sitting here for the last several minutes, delaying the inevitable trip to work, in hopes of thinking of something good to say. A conversation is underway below, but something tells me there won't be very many readers contributing today.

There will be plenty of time to analyze results and prognosticate about what comes next, perhaps even tonight. For now, let's take a step back and breath.

Final post for tonight...

Despite the confidence at Kahler Hall, I'm still not comfortable calling any races for anybody.

But...

Things are looking pretty good for the Democrats. I know there are still absentee ballots to be counted, but as of 11:57 pm, more than 70 percent of the precincts are reporting and the local races look like this:

County Executive:

Ken Ulman: 52.84%
Chris Merdon: 42.63%
Steve Wallis: 4.50%

County Council:

District 1:

Courtney Watson: 53%
Tony Salazar: 47%

District 2:

Calvin Ball: 61%
Gina Ellrich: 39%

District 3:

Jen Terrasa: 61%
Donna Thewes: 39%

District 4:

Mary Kay Sigaty: 65%
Tom D'Asto: 35%

District 5:

Greg Fox: 61%
Don Dunn: 39%

As for the other races, things are pretty much looking like one would expect them to. Of note, however, is Jim Robey's lead over Sandy Schrader in the District 13 Senate race, which stands at 60% to 40%.

Hopefully, there will be full resolution tomorrow, though I heard on NPR that Bob Ehrlich isn't going to concede anything any time soon. What this portends for local races, I can't say.

Good night.

On the road...

I'm heading out from my hideaway and going to the Democratic party at Kahler Hall. I'll see if I can post more from there.

Sorry...

I've been a lot busier running around counting numbers than I thought I'd be. The lack of updates is simply shameful. I know. I'm doing the best I can.

Anyway, we're getting some interesting numbers. I'll post more when I know more. But for now, we'll leave it at interesting.

Election Follies: Part I...

You stay classy, Bob Ehrlich.

Inaccurate sample ballots describing Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Senate candidate Michael S. Steele as Democrats were handed out to voters in at least four polling sites in Prince George's County this morning.

The ballots were distributed by people who said they arrived by buses this morning from Pennsylvania and Delaware.

...The Ehrlich and Steele campaigns yesterday acknowledged sending out an election-eve flier, sporting pictures of Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson, his predecessor Wayne K. Curry and former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume. The mailer, declaring itself an "official voter guide" and criticized by Democrats, suggested the three Democrats backed Ehrlich and Steele. Curry has endorsed Steele; none has endorsed Ehrlich.

Almost there...

Polls are open for another few hours. So, get out now and vote if you haven't already.

I've spent the day on the streets, making sure people know where their polling places are (and reminding them to vote Democratic!). Judging from the slice of the electorate I've encountered, I think turnout is going to be pretty high. It remains to see what impact the rain will have on voters -- and the campaign workers, for that matter. Right now, I'm just sore, and adding soaked to that isn't very appealing.

I'll be working until probably around 8:30, but the Board of Elections is playing it safe with results, saying they won't be posted until after 9 pm tonight. Here's the BOE results page, which you can feel free to check out in my absence. Just be sure to come back here for a well-rounded analysis of the numbers. (That was a joke...a bad one.)

I'm still not sure where I'll be blogging from tonight. Any suggestions?

UPDATE: Please post your voting experiences in the comments, as Wordbones has done. I think we're all interested in hearing about what's happening around the county.

Also, as I mentioned in a previous post that I don't have time to link to, I had planned on taking a picture of my polling place for some national citizen journalism experiment (and also to post here), but I was told that photography at the polls is strictly verboten. My bad.

Antsy pants...

Resolution: it's almost here.

In a little more than 27 hours, we should start seeing returns from races around the state. I'm still not sure where I'll be when the returns start rolling in, but I can guarantee that I won't be far from a computer. Check back starting around 8:30 pm tomorrow for a less-than-deferential treatment of the Election Night Follies.

Between now and then, however, it's little more than a waiting game. And since I'm not a good "waiter," I'm trying to occupy my time tonight with as much mindless activity as possible.

First, an earlyish showing of the new Borat movie. I hope it doesn't suffer from inflated expectations, but even if it does, I'll at least have made it through a couple hours without thinking about politics, which is the goal. And, because I like contests, go watch the "Driving Instructor" clip on this page and see if you can guess where in Columbia it was filmed. I can't pinpoint the location of neighborhood scenes, but I'm pretty sure I know which main road they're driving on. Background on the clip here.

After the movie, we'll come home to watch episode 46 of The Wire. Unlike several others, I thought episode 45 was really good. The feeling of exhaustion it induced, I think, was intentional. Plus, it set the table for a dramatic rise in action during the second half of the season. But that's just me.

Finally, I'll probably stew late into the night until the nervous energy subsides, alternately switching back and forth between a crummy Monday Night Football game and Comedy Central.

Bits and Pieces...

A few stray thoughts on a Sunday night...

If elections are determined by who has the most signs along public right-of-ways, then Bob Ehrlich, Michael Steele and Chris Merdon should have nothing to worry about...

I went to a party of mostly non-political people last night. Despite a nearly unanimous desire for the commercials, phone calls, mailings and door-knocking to end, all anyone could talk about were the elections. Is politics like a car accident; no one really wants to look, but you just can't help it...

Speaking of the mechanics of elections, how effective do you think mailings and phone banking are? Both seem universally despised, yet they're such a key part of every campaign. I wonder if there's anything to gain by running on an "I promise not to ever bother you" platform...

Wow! As of 6:18 pm on Sunday, we're up to 59 comments on the Vote Ken! post. For no other reason than boosting my ego, let's see if we can get it up to 100!

Since I shared my reading list earlier this and my humor is sometimes misinterpreted here, I submit to you here what I find truly funny. At the top of the list are Christopher Guest movies -- This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and Waiting For Guffman. But it's also safe to assume I'll laugh at just about any fart joke...

How about some football? Great wins for the Terps yesterday and the Ravens today, but what I'm mildly ashamed to admit is that I was most interested today in the Redskins game. Unlike typical Ravens fans -- who are generally insufferable when it comes to the Skins -- I'm not afraid to say I was once, and to some extent remain, a Redskins fan. Abbzug, meanwhile, is the mirror of me -- she prefers the Redskins but also roots for both.

Anyway, she went to the Redskins game (while almost everyone else I knew went to the Ravens game and I raked leaves [see below]). She takes her rooting seriously, too. Today she was adorned from head to toe in the gaudiest burgundy and gold outfit you could possibly imagine -- sparkling cape, wigs, face paint, sequined pants, etc. It took several days for her and her friend to construct the game day apparel and signs, and if all that effort went towards a loss (to Dallas!), I don't know if she would have recovered. It's fun win your main team wins, but it's much more fun when your wife's happy -- even if the floors are still littered red and gold glitter...

Finally, as a reminder, be sure to spend a few minutes playing in your leaf piles before you bag them. All work and no play is not a good way to go through life...