Maryland: Pinchers And Pols
CRISFIELD, MD, July 19 -- Crabs. Crabs in the steamer, crabs on the table, crabs on the ground. Crabs on hats, shirts, and shorts. A crab even adorns the water tower of this Eastern Shore town that sits on the Chesapeake Bay and every summer hosts a tribute to its favorite crustacean.
While the calinectes sapidus or "beautiful swimmer" is clearly the honored guest, Maryland politicians have also crashed the party since the J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake began 30 years ago. It is not the crabs, clams, fish, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries or watermelon, however, that bring the candidates from across the Bay Bridge and all the way down the Delmarva peninsula.
"I don't even try to eat the crabs," said Myrna Cardin who was pinch-hitting for her husband, Rep/SEN candidate Ben Cardin (D). Stuck in Washington for votes, Cardin sent his wife out to show the flag and shake hands. Or, as Mrs. Cardin explained, "touch elbows." Such adjustments are a must when every good Marylander has Old Bay stuck from the fingers down to the wrists.
Of course, not everyone who braved the heat and humidity did so to be glad-handed by the bushels of pols who made the trek down the shore. Unlike similar must-attend shindigs in other states where the pols are the main course, the Tawes Bake (named after the last governor Crisfield sent to Annapolis) brings out thousands every third Wednesday in July more for the food, fellowship and beer than anything else. That and it is a good excuse to get of of the office and close to the water.
It's not tough to tell who is standing in the well-worn marina parking lot for what reason. The politicos sport campaign t-shirts and stickers, stay close to the candidate tents, have cleaner hands and are more, well, sober. The others wear hats that say things like, "Don't Give Up The Shrimp," amble around freely to catch up with old friends and seem to prefer a mason jar of Bud in their grip over the hand of yet another candidate. Oh, and they are the ones playing beer pong. [JONATHAN MARTIN]
Despite such diversions, the pols still gamely made the rounds. Like Cardin, Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) and SEN candidate Kweisi Mfume (D) had other commitments keeping them on the mainland. But Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D), LG/SEN candidate Michael Steele (R), real estate investor Josh Rales (D) and the two GOV running mates made their presence known with a cadre of sign-wavers following their every step. The number of attendees wearing Dem and GOP stickers seemed about even. Cardin seemed to have the best presence among the Dem SEN contenders, although Rales's church-style hand fans were quite a hit on a muggy day.
Those who did come, naturally, sought to make hay out of the absence of the others. Ehrlich, O'Malley said, "is reluctant to campaign in rural areas" because of his record on issues that matter in such places. Asked just what those issues were, O'Malley seemed to hit all his campaign's message points, centering around the notion that the gov prefers "the narrow 1% over the other 99% of Marylanders." Still, O'Malley said he planned to "run a positive campaign." Something he said the gov would not do. "Gov. Ehrlich has never run a race without a robust dirty trick campaign as part of it," O'Malley said.
The Irish rocker, however, seemed less interested in talking business than in the business at hand. A few of his campaign aides got nervous when someone passed O'Malley one of those mason jars, but the Mayor quaffed the brew without hesitation. As one onlooker quipped: "If Bush can say shit, he can drink beer." Asked how it went down, O'Malley said, "The first one was good," and turned up the last 1/3 of his 1st jar with a smile. Then, his 2nd jar in hand, it was off to fish for some more votes
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