A Brunch of Democrats

This is a report filed by Sharon Dooley, a community activist from Olney.

Sunday saw the annual brunch for Montgomery County’s Democratic faithful at the Marriott Convention Center. The event, usually held in March was moved this year to preview the February 12th Primary. This regional primary change decision, pushed by the previous Party Chair Terry Lierman, is now seen by many as a prescient move as the national primary focus is definitely on the Chesapeake area, or as some have named it – the Potomac Primary.


Sign waving partisans along the entry roads, and legions of banner bearers and sticker stickers, greeted attendees once they were inside. Volunteers were enthusiastically working for both Congressional seats as well as each Presidential campaign. Most of the Montgomery County elected officials, led by County Executive Ike Leggett, were among the visible announced guests and included Council, Congressional and State legislative representatives and Senator Ben Cardin. All were roundly applauded by the several hundred attendees.

The surrogates for the two Presidential candidates were among the most powerful guests in attendance as Governor Martin O’Malley spoke eloquently for Senator Hillary Clinton and surprise guest, Senator Ted Kennedy hoarsely thundered for Senator Barack Obama – and they did not disappoint the audience. Each gave a rousing partisan speech marking the attributes of his particular favorite candidate; the audience was cheerfully engaged and both candidates had significant support in the room. Some present in the room wore buttons marking 1/20/09 – the date they hoped would signal a party address change at the White House. One thing was obvious – all were united in a desire to create a change at the top. This year the Democrats in Montgomery County seem really ready to work for that change.

Sharon Dooley