Maryland
McCain Wins, But Anti-McCain Voters Have Their Say
There were 116 total delegates at stake in the Republican presidential race tonight, and John McCain has apparently won all of them—terrific news for a candidate who began the day about 400 delegates shy of the magic number needed to clinch the nomination.
And two of his primary wins were by convincing margins—in Maryland, where he led Mike Huckabee by a two-to-one margin, and in the District of Columbia, where he was the overwhelming choice of the approximately 4,000 voters who took Republican ballots.
And now the bad news: McCain got a serious scare in Virginia, finally pulling out a high single-digit victory after trailing Huckabee in the early returns. McCain had been the runaway leader—by about 30 points—in polls taken just last week in Virginia. read more »
This Time, Obama Wins the Hillary Voters Too
The losing streak has hit eight for Hillary Clinton, but that's hardly the worst news to come out of Chesapeake Tuesday for the former first lady.
Nor is the fact that she now trails in most every independent delegate count—even the counts that include the non-binding pledges of superdelegates. And nor, for that matter, is the likelihood that her skid will reach double-digits a week from tonight, when Wisconsin and Hawaii vote.
No, the most troubling development for Hillary Clinton is that—for the first time—Barack Obama has demonstrated an ability to eat significantly into her base of support while retaining his, creating the possibility that the Democratic race is shifting decisively in his favor and that it is no longer a clash between opposing and immovable coalitions. read more »
Celebrating Victories, McCain Mocks Obama
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—John McCain just rounded off his victory speech here by cheekily appropriating one of Barack Obama's signature lines.
"I promise you I am fired up and ready to go," he told a cheering crowd.
The Arizona senator's speech seemed to target Obama more than Clinton, in yet another sign of the shifting dynamics of the Democratic race.
At one point he suggested that Obama's candidacy offered "not a promise of hope but a platitude." read more »
Huckabee Makes Things Close, Hillary Doesn't
Signs point to a very long night for Hillary Clinton. Polls are still open in Maryland and in the District of Columbia, but they have just closed in Virginia—and news outlets have already declared Barack Obama the winner by a wide margin.
Virginia was Clinton's best chance of scoring an upset victory, or at least keeping the race close enough to declare a moral victory. If she has lost lopsidedly in Virginia, it points to even worse defeats for her in Maryland and D.C. read more »
The Potomac Stakes: Hillary Must Limit the Damage, McCain Can Put It Away
Here’s what’s at stake in today's primary contests:
Democrats
Barack Obama is supposed to go three-for-three on the day. Short of engineering an upset victory—which would represent a campaign-changing development—Hillary Clinton’s best hope lies in containing her opponent’s victory margins and keeping the delegate race close, possibly positioning her to declare some kind of moral victory. On the heels of her weekend drubbings—and the news that she is replacing her campaign manager—the risk for Clinton tomorrow is obvious: Three more unspinnably lopsided defeats could create the impression that her campaign is in a tailspin, and that Obama is beginning to pull away.
Maryland: read more »
The House Of Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
Norton Finally Paints Veil
A High Rollers' Meat Market Only Does It Medium Well
A High Rollers’ Meat Market Only Does It Medium Well
Cupcake Backlash-At Last! Baker Admits: "They're a Pain in the Ass"
"I'm kind of the anti-wedding industry wedding vendor," said Mr. Goldman, proprietor of Charm City Cakes in Baltimore, Maryland. "The wedding industry is designed to rip people off. There's so much nasty stuff that goes on, so many line items. 'You want us to smile? That's a dollar a person. You want real silver or china? That's an extra fifty dollars a person.' The best wedding party I've been to was when a friend of mine got married in Alaska. They came back and we had a camp-out bonfire in rural Pennsylvania. Everybody wore shorts and T-shirts and we roasted a pig. The whole thing was potluck. I made his wedding cake, which was a huge totem pole. It was great because there was none of that weird wedding pressure to do the 'right thing.' Of course, weddings are our bread and butter, so I don't want to say that people shouldn't have weddings. But, you know, people are financing their weddings. Why are you gonna start off your new life together in debt, just because you wanted to have a big fancy party? Go to the justice of the peace, spend the money on a down payment on a house or go on a blowout vacation."
Bread and butter indeed: Goldman said that wedding cakes account for about seventy percent of his business at Charm City. In his massive workspace, peopled with his friends, who are also his employees, you'll see stoner cakes, pink cell-phone cakes (paging Paris Hilton!), handgun cakes. What kind of cakes won't he do? "The whole round- square-round-square thing," he said. "It's totally lame, and it doesn't look good. It doesn't have the effect that people want it to have." Also: cupcakes. "They're a pain in the ass. It's just not what we do." Amen to that. What about, you know, dirty cakes? Silence. Then: "No comment." Then: a knowing laugh. "Yeah, we've done a lot of that." Not so much for weddings, though. Mr. Goldman recalled a tattooed Baltimore rock musician who requested that an S&M-style ball gag be crafted from black gum paste and placed atop his wedding cake. "I was like, 'I can, but I would rather not,'" he said. "It's like, your grandma's gonna be there, dude." Duff Goldman doesn't need to be known among his core client base as they guy who upset the elderly guests with his dirty sex cake. The musician wisely reconsidered.
"This week we're doing a Mercury DA cop car, like a totally random cop car," Mr. Goldman said. "We're doing a space shuttle. We got a craps table. We got a bushel of crabs. Everyone's into what they're into." What would he refuse on principle? "If someone came in and asked for Hitler's birthday cake, I'd fucking step on their neck, and my whole staff would back me up," he said. "My last name is Goldman, for Christ's sake."
Mr. Goldman has a television show on the Food Network, called "Ace of Cakes." Fortunately, the allusion to poker in the show's title is just an attempt by Food Network types to attract the college educated Girls Gone Wild demographic; the host doesn't perform card tricks or play 5-card stud with Andy Dick or roadtrip to the Borgata on the air.
It's a show about him and his friends joking around and nursing hangovers and cursing a little bit while they make really impressive personalized cakes, which they then deliver. It is obvious that they take pride in what they do, and are very good at it. Ace of Cakes is currently my second-favorite TV show. (First place: Fresh Meat. ) However, as talented as he is, Mr. Goldman will not be baking my wedding cake. Stay tuned for the story of that very special confection queen.
Events for August 31, 2006
Maryland Democratic candidates, Benjamin Cardin and Kwiesi Mfume (head of the NAACP) debate on C-SPAN 2 at 7.
Andrew Cuomo and Charlie King speak at the House of the Lord Church (415 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn) at 8 p.m.
Mike Bloomberg finds out if his favorite Shakira video wins an MTV Music Video award when the award show starts at at Radio City Music Hall at 8 p.m.
And at 10 p.m., C-SPAN has a rerun of Iran response "to the United Nations Security Council deadline on Iran's nuclear program."
-- Azi PaybarahGetting Risky Teens Off Our Highway
Getting Risky Teens Off Our Highway
Laurel Snyder Responds. I Was Inaccurate, and Mean-Spirited. (Oy)
Here it is:
[T]hough I appreciate that you think I'm pretty, your physical description of me didn't make me feel any better and it didn't seem terribly relevant.If nothing else, I feel I should be allowed to correct the inaccuracies of your blog post (i.e. that my son had a hospital circumcision , that I "chose" Judaism, etc) I'm not sure how/where you got these ideas... but they're untrue , and anyone present at Makor on June 22 could tell you that. I hope you didn't just dream them up to stregthen your remarks about me. read more »
That would be poor journalism I think.
In trying to look past your creative revision of the event at Makor, I'd like to say that regardless of your dislike for me, I'm glad you enjoyed Maya Gottfried's reading. No matter how your blog might have hurt my personal feelings, there are bigger things at stake with a book like this, and if you got something out of the event, that's far more important than my little ego.
People Who Get Married In Dorchester County Stay Married
Aimee and Brian getting their marriage license.
After getting all our necessary information, Patty disappears into a backroom and returns a few minutes later with the license, fancy script, colors and everything. read more »
"Now, bride, you sign here," she says handing me a pen. She starts humming: "Hmm hmm hmm-hmm." (It's "Here Comes the Bride.") She continues serenading us while Brian scribbles his signature. My parents applaud!
The Launch of the Stripper Pole
I pick up the phone and she dives in: "Can you believe it was addressed to Jamie Folta in apartment 335 instead of Jennie Folta in apartment 335 and they couldn't figure out that maybe it's mine? So they were just going to keep it down there forever?! read more »
