Sharon Dobson named Republican of Year

"In my recent memory, my long-time memory, my whole memory, I can never remember doing anything solo. In this group, every effort is always by committee or coercion," Dobson said. "This has been a terrific experience for me. Thank you."

Md. Sen. E.J. Pipkin, R-36-Upper Shore, presented the award.

When it comes to Dobson, he said one sentence comes to mind: "How can I help?"

"I always take her up on that," he said, noting a consistent record of efforts by Dobson over the last 10 years.

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and author of multiple books including his most recent, "Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future," 2012, headlined the event.

He predicted a win for Mitt Romney and based on economics much like that in the 2011 baseball movie "Moneyball," calculated numbers necessary for Republicans to take control of the Senate by 2014.

Real, permanent, positive change requires a Republican president, a majority in the House and 60 solid Republican votes in the Senate, Norquist said.

With the first two secure by the end of the 2012 election, the whole package is possible by securing 13 more Senate seats by the end of the 2014 election, he said.

Norquist outlined a definitive plan and provided a grid of statistics on 33 Senate seats up in November, including 23 Democrats and 10 Republicans. He predicted possible victories in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Virginia and Montana, among others, to win at least four seats necessary to get to 51 in 2012. Another 33 seats will be up in 2014, including eight Democrats in states that are trending conservative. Republicans will need those eight and more to pull off the 60-seat equation, he said.

Sponsored by the Queen Anne's County Republican Central Committee, the annual Reagan Day Dinner draws politicians and activists from across the state and this year was no different.

In addition to Pipkin, Md. Delegates Steve Hershey, R-36-Queen Anne's, Michael Smigiel, R-36-Cecil, and Jay Jacobs, R-36-Kent, all had a chance to speak, as did U.S. Senate candidate Dan Bongino.

Representatives from nearly every county's central committee were in attendance as were Louis Pope, Republican National Committee member; Nicolee Ambrose, Republican National Committee member-elect; Lance Richardson, state's attorney; David Ferguson, executive director of the Md. Republican party; Gary Hofmann, sheriff of Queen Anne's County; Bob Simmons, county commissioner; Scott MacGlashan, clerk of the circuit court; and Andrew Wilhelm, president of Md. Teenage Republicans.

U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.-1st was not able to attend but sent multiple representatives.

The organization has hosted the Reagan Day Dinner since at least the early 1990s, said Diana Waterman, chairman.