2010 Gubernatorial Race. MD GOP dead? (North Beach: gated, statistics, pool)

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by jkyj1976

Illinois is as blue as Maryland, but as late as mid 90's, they elected a popular Republican Jim Edgar. However, he was followed by George Ryan, who singlehandedly destroyed the Republican Party in Illinois. Since then, Republicans have shown no sign of life. I take it is same in Maryland...

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

The difference is the corruption of Ryan. Contrary to what Cpterp posted earlier there was no hint of that, except a couple minor issues, with Ehrlich. As I mentioned earlier O'Malley beat Ehrlich by running against President Bush not by running against Ehrlich's record. What is missed here is that Republicans continue to be elected and re-elected outside of the DC suburbs at the County and local levels.

I really don't know how you can call spying and the exploitation of minorities minor. Nice try with about O'Malley running against Bush. If that was so, that should mean that Ehrlich will win easily next year (if he enters his name) since O'Malley has been burdening Marylanders with taxes and Obama is unpopular now. Republicans still win local positions, but in the State House their numbers are dwindling. The only solidly Republican region of the state now is Western MD. Remember Kratovil (D) narrowly won the Shore's House seat last year, even though I've heard that this didn't sit well with many residents.

Anyway, Republicans have been known to get elected governor in heavily liberal states. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts all have had Republican governors for the majority of the past 10 years. I find this interesting...

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by cpterp

I really don't know how you can call spying and the exploitation of minorities minor. Nice try with about O'Malley running against Bush. If that was so, that should mean that Ehrlich will win easily next year (if he enters his name) since O'Malley has been burdening Marylanders with taxes and Obama is unpopular now. Republicans still win local positions, but in the State House their numbers are dwindling. The only solidly Republican region of the state now is Western MD. Remember Kratovil (D) narrowly won the Shore's House seat last year, even though I've heard that this didn't sit well with many residents.

Anyway, Republicans have been known to get elected governor in heavily liberal states. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts all have had Republican governors for the majority of the past 10 years. I find this interesting...

The information about surveillance of various groups didn't come out until after the election, actually way after the election, and if you think it doesn't continue today you are naive. If you would look at O'Malley's campaign of 2006 it was heavily weighted to tying then Gov. Ehrlich to President Bush and national policies and not so much on strictly MD issues. Exploitation of minorties? Come on, I realize today's college students have a tendency for drama but that is way over the top. Equating police operations thought appropriate at the time and campaign tricks with systemic corruption such as happened under Ryan in Il is a real stretch. Public corruption is usually defines as bribery, bid rigging, and malfeasance in office.

[KeyserSoze]

Sorry, but Maryland isn't going to be all blue like states of New England. That's a pipe dream.

[westsideboy]

Dirty tricks in urban precincts is as old as American politics and is practiced by both parties. In general the GOP tries to trick the urban folks into not voting, the Dems try to get them all to "vote" whether they show up at the polls or not.

O'Malley did run against Bush just like Obama and any other smart Dem did. No reason to be defensive about that, it was a good political move.

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

The information about surveillance of various groups didn't come out until after the election, actually way after the election, and if you think it doesn't continue today you are naive. If you would look at O'Malley's campaign of 2006 it was heavily weighted to tying then Gov. Ehrlich to President Bush and national policies and not so much on strictly MD issues. Exploitation of minorties? Come on, I realize today's college students have a tendency for drama but that is way over the top. Equating police operations thought appropriate at the time and campaign tricks with systemic corruption such as happened under Ryan in Il is a real stretch. Public corruption is usually defines as bribery, bid rigging, and malfeasance in office.

"thought appropriate" Are you kidding me? I really doubt O'Malley is knowingly letting the state police spy on the same liberal clubs that helped to elect him in the first place. Tying opposing candidates to unpopular members of their party is very common as westsideboy said, and I wouldn't call that corruption. 95% of McDonnell's campaign in Virginia is tying Deeds to Obama. I don't think you could get the guy to describe Deeds in 5 sentences without him mentioning Obama.

Originally Posted by KeyserSoze

Sorry, but Maryland isn't going to be all blue like states of New England. That's a pipe dream.

I didn't say it should, although it practically is already, and more so in some cases (not counting local elections).

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Dirty tricks in urban precincts is as old as American politics and is practiced by both parties. In general the GOP tries to trick the urban folks into not voting, the Dems try to get them all to "vote" whether they show up at the polls or not.

O'Malley did run against Bush just like Obama and any other smart Dem did. No reason to be defensive about that, it was a good political move.

Yeah, but I just wanted to make sure I pointed it out. Even though I'm a Democrat I'm not totally oblivious to corruption in Democratic party. Things like ACORN and corruption in Illinois have definitely left their mark on the party.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by cpterp

"thought appropriate" Are you kidding me? I really doubt O'Malley is knowingly letting the state police spy on the same liberal clubs that helped to elect him in the first place. Tying opposing candidates to unpopular members of their party is very common as westsideboy said, and I wouldn't call that corruption. 95% of McDonnell's campaign in Virginia is tying Deeds to Obama. I don't think you could get the guy to describe Deeds in 5 sentences without him mentioning Obama.



I didn't say it should, although it practically is already, and more so in some cases (not counting local elections).



Yeah, but I just wanted to make sure I pointed it out. Even though I'm a Democrat I'm not totally oblivious to corruption in Democratic party. Things like ACORN and corruption in Illinois have definitely left their mark on the party.

Who said anything about "liberal" clubs?

PETA is a "club"?
PETA threatens rabbi // Current

Athough the anti-Semites on CD may not like the above story I think it's appropriate.

[KeyserSoze]

Originally Posted by cpterp

I didn't say it should, although it practically is already, and more so in some cases (not counting local elections).

No it's not. If it was, all the counties should be "blue", on every conceivable level. A small state with two large metros would skew any statistic. And how else would you decipher a county's political atmosphere than through local elections? It's much more telling when you break it down to a regional, local or county level.

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by KeyserSoze

No it's not. If it was, all the counties should be "blue", on every conceivable level. A small state with two large metros would skew any statistic. And how else would you decipher a county's political atmosphere than through local elections? It's much more telling when you break it down to a regional, local or county level.

I get what you're saying, but I doubt most would judge states by your definition.That would effectively limit "blue states" to New England, since nearly all other states in the country have conservative rural areas, and with the exception of New Jersey, the majority of each state's land area is generally rural. I mean, aren't California, Washington, and New York considered to be "blue?"

"Maryland is the nation's third-bluest state, behind Massachusetts and Hawaii, [the latest Gallup poll], which tracks how residents identify their own political leanings."

Maryland: More Blue than New York or California? - Maryland Politics - News and notes from the Maryland political scene.

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Who said anything about "liberal" clubs?

PETA is a "club"?
PETA threatens rabbi // Current

Athough the anti-Semites on CD may not like the above story I think it's appropriate.

Club, activist group, whatever...I didn't here anything about PETA (which I admit has some pretty whacko members), but here are some others he was spying on:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the DC Anti-War Network, consumers fighting a 72 percent electricity rate increase, human rights groups, a group trying to establish bike lanes etc. Some of these groups were even labelled "terrorists" or "white supremacists." To me this is far from "appropriate" regardless of the circumstances. Not only is it extremely unethical, it's a waste of resources, including your own tax dollars.

[westsideboy]

I have to agree with Cpterp on this one, Maryland is a very blue state with red rural areas that have a minimal impact on statewide politics. I don't think there has been any GOP candidate elected to statewide office in my lifetime other than Erlich in 2002.

This is the pattern of most blue states, they are still red in the rural areas, but they are outvoted by the blue areas.

[KeyserSoze]

I still stand by what I said. The state itself is so divided, especially when it comes to politics. It's dominated by what's called "metro politics". One region or demographic dominates, while others are left in the cold. That doesn't sound liberal, blue, or Democratic to me in ideology. From the social views I've seen and heard, even in this forum -- I don't find the state extremely liberal. If you ask me, I don't consider New England liberal either. Any near-homogeneous population with a vast accumulation of wealth will be unanimous in their outlook. Let's see how "liberal" New England remains if there's something like an influx of people of the "ethnic" demographic, or face actual issues that would affect the citizens like in other areas of the country.