time to kick out the dems (Baltimore, North Beach: 2014, house, safe)

[HurricaneDC]

O'Malley is a damned fool if ever there was one. Yesterday we lost 600 jobs because Bechtel decided to move to our neighbor to the west: Virginia. The state will begin charging for being able to read official announcements:

State begins charging for real time access to official announcements – MarylandReporter.com

And countless other failures. Can we please get a sensible person running this state in the next election?

[westsideboy]

Me and you makes two Hurricane! Now to convince 51% of the electorate........

[North Beach Person]

The problem is that the Republicans have no real viable state wide candidate for Governor. Ehrlich is finished (and in my opinion didn't really try last year). The Democrats, on the hand, have some serious bench strength with Franchot, Gansler and Lt. Gov. Brown. One of those will be the Democratic candidate for Governor in 2014 (my money's on Brown for a number of reasons).

The change needs to come first at the legislative/senatorial district level, and that's a hard nut to crack with the population patterns and the way the districts are drawn. Republicans are already very competitive at the County level outside the DC Metro and Baltimore regions and if I remember are in the majority on Boards of County Commissioners. In Calvert County Republicans hold all 5 seats and have a majority in Anne Arundel and I think St. Mary's. Charles is trending Democrat due to the influx of new residents migrating from PG.

The Eastern Shore counties are already mostly Republican with the Democrats there more in line with Republicans than they are with state wide Democrats.

[westsideboy]

How does any Maryland Republican get state-wide media attention? They don't win any of the lesser statewide offices, they are marginalized to the point of being pariahs in the House of Delegates and Senate. If things go according to the Dems plan, team blue will have a 7-1 split in the House of Reps in Washington and both Senate seats too.

All three of Allegany County's commissioners are Repubicans, as are 3/4 of our state delegation (Only DINO-Dem Kevin Kelly holds on.) How to all of these minor politiicans every get on the state wide radar to raise money or get enough of a resume to attract cross over votes? I wish I knew the answers.

[PhenomenalAJ]

I'm a liberal but I seriously am sick of the arrogance and corruption of O'Malley and the Dem legislature. Realistically I have no idea how Republicans could take back the legislature or governorship. The problem is pretty much only tea party style Republicans are running in very liberal areas. Republicans have no one to blame but themselves for abandoning a moderate tack. Anyone remember Connie Morella? She was a liberal Republican who represented Montgomery County for many years. The tea party nutters are killing the Republican party, you'll see how it is if Herman Cain gets the presidential nomination next year, the GOP will just get slaughtered like it was the FDR era.

[North Beach Person]

You mentioned Morella. She wasn't defeated by any "tea party" or "ultra-right wing" but by the fact she was a Republican and was re-districted into a new area where she couldn't win, courtesy of Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller. Same with Bentley's old district which Ehrlich also represented. It's now held by Ruppersburger after some creative re-drawing of district lines.

The exact same thing being done to Bartlett this year.

[PhenomenalAJ]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

You mentioned Morella. She wasn't defeated by any "tea party" or "ultra-right wing" but by the fact she was a Republican and was re-districted into a new area where she couldn't win, courtesy of Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller. Same with Bentley's old district which Ehrlich also represented. It's now held by Ruppersburger after some creative re-drawing of district lines.

The exact same thing being done to Bartlett this year.

Yea I know that but I mentioned her name to point out that moderate Republicans can win elections. A lot of people are frustrated with O'Malley and the Dems but they will retain the legislature in 2012.

A better example is Wayne Gilchrist, a moderate Repub who represented the Eastern Shore up until I think 2008. He got primaried out in favor of wingnut Andy Harris, who ended up losing the election to Dem Frank Kratovil. Harris did end up back in and he'll only be around because his district is being redrawn to keep him safe for the next decade. A moderate Republican could win Bartlett's new district but Bartlett will undoubtedly be the nominee and the MDGOP will keep digging themselves further into the grave same as the national GOP is doing at a slower scale.

[westsideboy]

Expect the same to happen to Bartlett too. I don't think he has the energy, money, or right brand of conservatism to make any inroads in Montgomery County. He needs to step aside and give some young buck a shot at the seat. I am practicing how to spell G-a-r-g-i-o-l-a.

[westsideboy]

Well AJ, you just found a fundimental problem with the closed primary system. Generally, you need to be on the far left/right to win in your party's primary, but moderate enough to get cross over votes to win in the general.

Dems, at the state level, don't have that problem. They can nominate Leftists like Glendening, and O'Malley and still expect to win because of their huge registration advantage. There is no way a Democrat in Maryland should ever lose a state-wide election, but Glendening nearly lost to Saurbray, KKT did lose to Ehrlich, and although O'Malley has won twice, his % of vote can be called an "underperfomance" based on registration numbers.

It doesn't matter. Until the Democrats nominate their own moderates in the primaries, the state will be run be Leftists. It is really in the Dems hands, there aren't enough Republicans to vote the bums out once you get to the general.

[North Beach Person]

Moderate Republicans can win MD elections? Morella couldn't after she was put into a district that wouldn't vote for anyone with an R after their name.

All this talk about the tea party destroying the Republican Party is wishful thinking. Isn't happening. What isn't mentioned is the elections at the State, County and local levels Tea Party endorsed candidates are winning. Only the losses make news.

If Castle was such a good candidate why didn't he win? Because he wasn't trusted. He was also 70 years old. For her flaws O'Donnell connected with the electorate in the primary.


By the way I don't belong to the Tea Party nor to I subscribe to much of their strategy.







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