Welcome!

The world is clearly desperate for another blog. OK, maybe not desperate. In fact, maybe we need another blog like we need another television station at this point. However, as Maryland's quadrennial elections approach, it seems timely if nothing else. Most of the web postings about politics in the Old Line State seem to come either from official sources like the Baltimore Sun or from Republicans.

I am a Democrat and happy to be one. I support my party and its candidates but I am far from slavish about it. I expect better from my fellow partisans than I do from the Republicans, so I'm more critical of Democratic than Republican stupidity. I also like to call it like I see it, so I'm not going to pretend O'Malley's latest campaign move is genius if it is a dud. I'm somewhat eclectic in my views and end up surprising people from both parties on occasion even if it is relatively rare than I cast a ballot for a Republican.

I live in Montgomery County, Maryland located just outside DC. Admittedly, writing about Maryland politics from Montgomery County may be a bit like covering Russian politics from Vladivostok. Maryland politics has always revolved around Baltimore even if the legislature avowedly convenes in Annapolis. Amazing that so little has changed even though Baltimore City no longer contains more than one-half of the state's population. Indeed, it is only the fourth largest jurisdiction.

Nonetheless, I plan to take a rather Montgomery-centered view and pay about as much attention to Baltimore as it does to us. Not that I have anything against Baltimore. I just don't know nearly as much about it as I do my home county. Besides, the Sun does a fine job of covering Baltimore while the Maryland suburbs of DC are comparatively neglected by the Washington Post. Montgomery County may be over fifty percent larger than Washington but the Post will never cover elections for county executive with the same intensity as elections for Mayor of Washington. The Gazette probably a stronger paper of record of Montgomery politics these days.

I teach political science at American University so I am bound to sound like a professor sometimes. I plan to provide information and analysis as well as a viewpoint. In any case, welcome. Any politicos who want me to pass on news of an event are welcome to email me at lublin.david at gmail.com