Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan must be amazed at how fortunate he has been on the political front. Hogan, a Republican, won four years ago by appealing to voters on the left and right with his pragmatic management style and common sense economic strategies. Hogan’s bi-partisan support appears to have only grown during his first term.
As soon as the primary election was over, Hogan’s campaign was immediately aggressive in painting Democratic challenger Ben Jealous as an inexperienced extremist unfit to be governor. Jealous looks the part this week when he had a juvenile reaction to a question from an experienced reporter about whether he considered himself or his policies “socialist,” as Hogan has referenced. His kneejerk reaction on camera was, “Are you (expletive) kidding me?”
There is hope among the Democratic Party that Maryland will join in on a “blue wave” of sorts expected to sweep the nation this fall in the general election as a result of Republican President Trump’s immature reactions to criticism and disdain for the media and any opponents. Jealous didn’t help the “blue wave” movement or himself this week.
David Zurawik, who covers the media for The Baltimore Sun, put it well I thought.
“Ben Jealous was floundering as a media candidate before he used the f-word at a news conference yesterday to respond to a reporter’s question. Now I find myself wondering if it’s about to get even worse,” Zurawik wrote. “I have been shaking my head and wondering and writing much of the summer about the pathetic media presence of Ben Jealous since he won the Democratic nomination for Maryland governor. Where was his media effort? Did he even have a media strategy? … But radio silence beats creating negative news about yourself, which is what Jealous did yesterday when he used the F-word to respond to a reporter who asked about Hogan labeling him a socialist in a newspaper story last week.”
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It’s fun every year to take a look inside the White Marlin Open by examining the numbers. Of course, the most important numbers each year involve boat participation – 382 – and prize money — $5.45 million. However, there are lots of other interesting figures to consider:
•1,400: Base entry fee for a boat to enter the tournament after June 1.
•30,450: The cost for a boat to enter all of the added entry levels in the tournament.
•One: Qualifying white marlin weighed in after three days of fishing.
•34,666: Dollars per pound if the 75-pound white marlin holds on to first place considering the $2.6 million prize money it stood to make after three days.
•95.5: Pounds last year’s winning white marlin weighed compared to 75 pounds, the first-place white marlin after three days.
•794: Dollars per pound the 881-pound blue marlin was worth after three days of fishing with its $700,000 payday.
•Zero: The number of blue marlin caught in last year’s tournament that met the minimum weight.
•Zero: Dollars separating the first- and second-place dolphin, which each were in position for $17,000. The first-place dolphin weighed 50 pounds, 14 pounds more than the second-place entry after three days.
•Five: Minutes before the scales closed Wednesday night when a new first-place wahoo was brought in to Harbour Island.
•180: White marlin caught and released on Monday of the tournament. Five were boated and all came in too light to meet the minimum weight requirement.
•15: Blue marlin caught and released on the first day of the tournament. Only one was boated.
•16: Spearfish caught on the first three days of the tourney.
•326: White marlin released over the first three days of the tourney.
•Eight: White marlin boated during the tourney’s first three days.
•31: Blue marlin released Monday through Wednesday of the tournament.
•Zero: Tuna released during the first three days of the tourney as compared to 11 boated.
•One: Shark reported as caught and released as of Thursday morning.
•Six: Dolphin caught and boated during the tourney’s first three days.
•578,000: Amount of money won after three days by the Brass Monkey of Leonardtown, Md. for its second-place, 71-pound tuna.
•68.5: Pounds it took to win last year’s tuna division in the White Marlin Open.
•23: Pounds it took to win last year’s dolphin division. After three days, three dolphin on the leaderboard exceeded it, weighing 50, 36 and 30 pounds, respectively.
