“If I only had eleven more months…”
That’s what Bob Wheatley said to me last night at Clyde ’s. I had just finished telling him that I had heard he did well at the HoCo Chamber State Candidates forum that morning. We were both attending a “Business Roundtable” event for Ed Priola. Besides HoCo Risings earlier report, that David Yungmann categorized as “gushing like a school girl,” others readily confirmed that he had far outshone his opponent, Liz Bobo.
Someone said it looked as if Liz didn’t even want to be there.
That’s no surprise. This was a group of business people, real business people.
Bob told me that his biggest obstacle has been getting voters in the district to look beyond the “R” label. “I find that if I can get them to spend a few minutes talking to me I can get them past that.”
If he only had eleven more months.
I also got to meet Ed’s special guest of the evening, Tony O’Donnell. Tony is the House of Delegates minority leader from District 29C (Calvert / St. Mary’s). He also serves on the Environmental Affairs Committee with Liz Bobo. I’ve noticed that it doesn’t matter what party they’re in, when I mention Liz’s name eyes tend to roll.
I didn’t stay for the speeches but I did get to speak with Ed for a bit before I bugged out. With the possible exception of Guy Guzzone, Ed is head and shoulders above any other candidate running for a delegate seat in District 13. He, along with Bob Wheatley and county council candidate Dennis Schrader, have a tough row to hoe in their heavily Dem districts but those voters would be well advised to take a long hard look at him, particularly in comparison to incumbents Shane Pendergrass and Frank Turner.
