Delegating Denver #24 of 56: Maryland

Maryland

Number of Delegates: 99 Pledged: 70 Unpledged: 29

How to Recognize a Maryland Delegate: Chesapeake is the Susquehannock Indian word for "great blue crab bay." So when the land surrounding the bay was granted to Lord Baltimore in 1632, he wanted to call his new colony "Crustacea." But King Charles I of England had his own idea for the colony, which was created to keep Catholics out of Virginia. At the time, a Catholic person was known as a "Mary," so Charles named it "Maryland." Since that moment, Maryland and Virginia have been locked in the nation's most prolonged feud. The battle has raged over blue-crabfishing boundaries in Chesapeake Bay, extended through the Civil War (with Confederate Virginia "retroceding" on the land deal made with Union Maryland for the creation of the national capital at Washington, D.C.), and continues to this day as a Blue State vs. Red State grudge match. Predominantly Democratic Maryland has adopted the state motto of "Manly Deeds, Womanly Words" as a way of honoring its catholic pragmatism and differentiating itself from the selfish barbarism of predominantly Republican Virginia. Maryland delegates will dress the part, too, with males showing a preference for the pleated-front performance golf slacks by homegrown clothier JoS. A. Banks and females displaying a fondness for Under Armour Advantage skirts and polo sets. And nothing makes a Marylander happier than to find these items at a well-stocked Goodwill Superstore in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Famous Marylanders: Jazz greats Eubie Blake, Billy Holiday and Bill Frisell; Good Charlotte twins Benji and Joel Madden; pop-rockers Cass Elliot, Ric Ocasek, JC (’N Sync) Chasez and Lisa Loeb; minimalist composer Philip Glass; father of trance BT (Brian Wayne Transeau); Mother ofInvention Frank Zappa; film directors Barry Levinson and John Waters; actors John Astin, Linda Hamilton, David Hasselhoff and Divine (Glenn Milstead); writers Tom Clancy and Leon Uris; journalists H.L. Mencken and Matt Drudge; world's fastest swimmer Michael Phelps; outsider artists Mama Girl and Dominic Farmer.

Famous Maryland Democrats: 21st ambassador to France, first director of the Peace Corps and father of California First Lady Maria Shriver Schwarzenegger Sargent Shriver; fifth lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend; sixtieth Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi; former U.S. representative and former president and CEO of the NAACP Kweisi Mfume.

Famous Marylanders With Denver Connections: Perky 9News morning anchor Kyle Dyer; quirky 7News sports anchor Lionel Bienvenu; murky Denver FBI office boss Robert J. Garrity Jr.; University of Denver women's lacrosse head coach Liza Kelley.

State Nickname: the Old Line State (official); America in Miniature (Unofficial) Official Language: Balmorese, the English dialect of Balmer, Merlin (Baltimore, Maryland) Population: 5,615,727 Racial Distribution: 59% white, 29% black, 6% Asian, 6% Hispanic Per Capita Personal Income: $37,331 Unemployment: 4.5%

Recommendations for the Maryland Delegation:

Most Marylander Denver Neighborhood: Montclair

Most Marylander Bars: Denver's downtown jazz club for residents of the city of "Balmer": El Chapultepec 1962 Market Street

...with a satellite branch for residents from the rest of the state of "Merlin": El Chapultepec Too 3930 West 38th Avenue

Most Marylander Restaurant: Cherry Crest Seafood Restaurant and Market 5909 South University Boulevard Littleton, Colorado The crab cakes, made from an authentic Maryland recipe, are rated the best in town.

Best Day Trip: The Ski Train to Winter Park The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was chartered in 1827 and was the first railroad to offer passenger service. The massive B&O (pronounced "Beeno" in Balmorese) warehouse, built in 1899, currently houses the Baltimore Orioles team headquarters and dominates theright-field view of Oriole Park ("Oreo Pork") at Camden Yards. This was the first major-league "downtown railyard retro" ballpark to be built by HOK Sports in the 1990s. It was also the prototype for Denver's own Coors Field. It will be the first of many sights that Maryland delegates will see on their trip aboard the Ski Train. Recreational rail service has been running the 56 miles between Denver's Union Station and Winter Park since 1940. Summer weekend trips are a recent addition to the annual schedule and should not be missed. The scenic route passes Coors Field as it leaves Denver's railyards, winds through Denver's northwest suburbs and enters the foothills following South Boulder Creek. The train climbs 4,000 feet and passes through 29 tunnels before reaching the 6.3-mile-long Moffat Tunnel. This is the highest railroad tunnel in the United States and passes under the Continental Divide. The train stops less than a hundred yards from the ski lifts of Winter Park, the resort that started as a mountain park run by the City of Denver. Summer activities include wine tastings, concerts and food festivals after a day of mountain biking. Not to worry, Marylanders, the mountain bikes are placed on the ski lifts that climb an additional 1,700 feet up the mountain. From there, the ride is all downhill.