For someone who has counseled countless political candidates and predicted races for scores of news organizations, Brad Coker may seem strangely vague about his own future.
The 35-year-old whiz kid and founder of the Columbia-based Mason-Dixon Political Media Research is mulling the possibility of packing it all in to enjoy pseudo-retirement further south of our border. Mr. Coker says a nagging ulcer is causing him to rethink his residency here. But his comments also suggest someone negotiating a premature mid-life crisis.
"My staff thinks I'm just stressed out, but I am wondering whether this is another crossroads," said Mr. Coker, who fell into poll-taking 12 years ago when law and graduate school seemed unattractive options.
Since then, his business has become one of the largest polling organizations in the country. During the last campaign, Mason-Dixon handled political analysis of 162 races for media clients in 36 states. He correctly predicted 159 of the outcomes.
Mr. Coker was also one of the few people in Howard County to correctly predict County Executive Charles I. Ecker's upset win over Elizabeth Bobo four years ago. Mr. Coker said Mr. Ecker would win by 300 votes. He won by 244.
Bright and energetic, Mr. Coker is an admitted workaholic who, at this early juncture in life, says, "I have met all my goals."
Right now, he dreams of moving back to his birthplace in Jacksonville, Fla., but there are no certainties.
While he seems determined to keep a hand in the public-opinion polling company he created, where he will locate it is another matter. Mr. Coker confirmed that he is considering moving the headquarters to a state where the taxes, he said, are not as high.
That would be a loss to Howard County, the state and to those who have relied on Mr. Coker's expertise and free advice, particularly candidates who almost universally praise him as their guru. State Sen.-elect Martin G. Madden said Mr. Coker has "the pulse of a lot of people" and "any little crumb he throws my way, I'll gladly take."
Whatever omniscient qualities he possesses, Mr. Coker is attempting to exercise them now to map out a new future. Perhaps he should put the question to the people his company so often canvasses: "What does a 35-year-old workaholic do after he's done it all?"