Annapolis Capital Punishment

Independent Chris Fox has collected the approved number of required signatures and will soon officially file as a candidate and be on the ballot. This shows his viability and will certainly have an impact on the entire campaign....As reported earlier, Democrat Wayne Taylor plans to file at the end of this week...I have watched the videos from the recent Democratic forum, which I recommend you do as well at democratic forum . Pay careful attention to their mannerisms, their preparation, their eye contact and facial expressions. Some seem relaxed and confident. Others seem nervous and sort of "closed in"....Cohen looks polished, calm, friendly but too slick....McFall seems poised and confident and focused on explaining her experience...Pierre is relaxed and works the crowd...Shropshire seems to be going in every direction, as usual...Taylor seems too confident and self-assured. In his closing statement, Taylor invited the audience to visit his web-site, but there is still nothing there of any substance and he also asked the audience to invite him to their living room....Renaut appears unable to get out of his own skin or connect with the audience in other than a cerebral way...Here's a quick rundown of where campaigns appear to be standing from a purely subjective point of view. For Republicans, Cordle and Flyntz are remarkably low-key but as it is now July, with Flyntz's name barely recognizable, I'd give him little or no chance of a strong showing in September against the much-better-known native-son Cordle...As for the Dems, my crystal ball, though still cloudy, is getting a bit clearer each day, and I would put Cohen, McFall and Pierre bunched together up front. Renaut may have a strong showing in the most active Ward One which could conceivably put him over the top, while I give Taylor little if any chance of more than a small percentage and Shropshire too, unless his stalwarts-and he has many ardent supporters, stick with him, will likely have a poor showing as well. He did say he was suspending his campaign, but then he appeared at the forum....All it will take is for one candidate to inch out a few others with as little as only 20% or perhaps even less and the remaining five could divide up 80%. However, it would be nice for the winning candidate to make a much stronger showing as it will bode well for future governance and will clearly show a stronger choice...As for Fox, there is no reason to believe that he will not have his chance to make a strong impression upon voters in the fall when he goes up against the likely Republican choice of Cordle and whomever the Dems pick....I think it is possible that Fox may present a bigger challenge in the general to Cordle than any of the Democrats will...

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