There are so many little local political tidbits I need to mention. This earthquake gave me a great title that will allow me to talk about all of my recent political observations in one entry.
The truly earthquake-like event that I observed on Saturday was the mayor’s first mailing. With a little over three weeks before the election the mayor sent out a full color, two-sided, thick paper, oversized, crime themed mailer. I assume every super voter in Baltimore received this Rawlings-Blake promotion. It basically says the mayor is awesome and she is especially awesome at fighting crime. There will be other large mailers from the mayor coming out very soon and I assume they also will be themed. We are beginning to see what the money she raised is buying. She is doing what all well-funded politicians in Baltimore do: inundating the super voters with large colorful propaganda pieces over the final three weeks of the campaign. It looks like our mayor has so much money that she has started her mailings a little early. I predict I get seven mailers from her.
In past articles I have mentioned some of the hard working candidates I have randomly run into during my travels around Baltimore. On Thursday night at the Best of Baltimore magazine party I ran into first district Candidate Jason Kahler. Jason was taking a break from pounding the pavement and meeting first district voters. He actually recognized me and said hello. He is a nice guy and has his work cut out for him. George Della gave incumbent Jim Kraft three times the amount of money that Kahler has raised! The establishment’s financial advantage always finds new ways to sicken me.
On Friday night I was at the Windup Space on North Avenue. I did not expect to find any candidates there even though one Saturday night I found Odette Ramos a few doors down at Liam’s. I was pleasantly surprised to run into 12th district candidate Jason Curtis. Curtis was out on Patrol with police on segways. He has done this many times over the last few years. He let me ride his segway for a little bit. I had never been on one before. They are easy to get the hang of. Jason and Odette are giving Carl Stokes a real run for his money. Both challengers have raised impressive amounts of money. I will write about this in another article soon (I hope).
Last night in Hampden there was a political forum and I ran into Jason Curtis and Odette Ramos again. The forum was for Mayoral, City Council President, 7th district, 12th district, and 14th district candidates. The mayor and Jack Young did not show up. Catherine Pugh can really zoom through all of her talking points. You can tell she has done this before. Landers and Rolley were also their usually solid selves. I was impressed that all three candidates stayed at the event for long periods of time. They are really trying hard and are taking the challenge very seriously.
The night really was quite boring. Most of the people in attendance already had their minds made up on who they were going to vote for in most of the races. The biggest spark of the evening came from City Council President Candidate Tom Kiefaber. Tom can be a very effective speaker when he wants to be. It is a shame that Jack Young will not debate him. Tom made a passionate plea for new blood in Baltimore politics. He ripped on the media for favoring well-funded candidates and he spoke candidly about the corruption that infests Baltimore politics. I wished more people could have heard his call for new youthful leadership, it was the highlight of the night.
Adam is the most recognizable face of the recent resurgence in Reservoir Hill. He has appeared on many national and local radio shows, in several news publications, and at numerous events discussing his innovative urban redevelopment ideas and his unique lifestyle. Adam is a successful entrepreneur, community activist, and a local political guru who ran for city council in 2007. He is the founder and director of the TechBalt.com Buy a Block Project and BaltimoreHourly.com. His fearless local political commentary has rocked the local blog scene for most of this decade and he plans to take it to the next level in the next decade here on Charm City Current.