“All politics is local; all politics is personal.” Such was the judgment of that famous Irish Democrat, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill. And he was right. I know, because I have experienced it. I am voting for Ehrlich. Here’s why.

Like some others in the Jewish community, I have a child with what they euphemistically call “special needs.” In plain English, my daughter Elisheva, 15, has Down’s Syndrome. There are many others in our community, more than you’d guess. Well, one of the challenges in raising such a child is chinuch. What does one do? As expensive

They never take us into account.

Did you know that primary election day in Baltimore is coming up, three days before Yom Kippur? Of all times of the year, I plan to have more important things to do three days before Yom Kippur than vote in the primaries, particularly when most of the incumbents are running unopposed. That’s right, O’Malley, Ehrlich, Gansler (he’s the attorney general who, by his own admission, can’t wait to be governor one day), Sarbanes, and our state delegates, are all unopposed in the primaries. That is what you get in one-party, incumbent-friendly states like Maryland. As

“Die situation ist verzweifelt, aber nicht ernst.”

This Viennese slogan from a century ago was on my mind during my recent trip to Israel. “The situation is desperate, but not serious.” That is, the matzav (situation) is serious, but people do not act as if they were in a serious matzav.

Things are not looking great in the Middle East for Israel. Well, perhaps they never are, but it looks to me worse than usual. As I landed, Hamas was shooting rockets into the South, including Beersheva as well as Ashkelon and Ashdod, where my cousins from Russia live, and the rockets