While many states are looking toward the General Election which is 2 months away, Maryland is one of a handful of states that has a late primary election scheduled for September 12th. And in Maryland, nearly every public office is up for grabs during this non-presidential year.
The biggest races are for Governor and Senator. With Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley taking on the current Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich in November, for the primary the big race is for the open Senate seat, vacated by the retiring Paul Sarbanes.
Many Democrats are vying for the Democratic nomination that will take on likely Republican candidate Michael Steele. The main two contenders are Congressman Ben Cardin and former Congressman Kweisi Mfume. Ben has the war chest and endorsements, but Mfume has a great deal of support in the progressive community and a segment of the African American community. The other two names making any sort of waves are American University History Professor Allan Lichtman and millionaire Josh Rales who is self-funding his campaign.
However, there are other races of interest this primary season.........
Comptroller
Not normally a race you'd consider high profile, but with Maryland democratic icon and curmudgeon (and former Mayor and Governor) Comptroller William Donald Schaeffer making several demeaning comments toward women and minorities, supporting Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich, and even sexually harassing a young woman in front of reporters, this one has become a race to see who will replace the aging Willie Don.
Delegate Peter Franchot (Mont. Co.) entered the race early, saying he was the "Only Democrat Running for Comptroller" in an effort to defeat his old friend who he felt it was past time he retired. As things went downhill for Schaeffer and he seemed quite vulnerable, Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens entered the race. She has been seen by many to be a conservative, pro-development Democrat. She appears to have strong support from redder areas of the state, including Anne Arundel County. Because of her conservative record, Franchot still contends he is the only Democrat in the race. While he was seen as lagging in the polls, Peter Franchot did get a big boost this week when he received the endorsement from the Washington Post.
The biggest fear in this race is Franchot and Owens will split the anti-Schaefer vote and allow Willie Don to be re-elected. Schaefer's base of support is centered around Baltimore, where he was Mayor many years ago.
Attorney General
This was a three-man race up until this last week, when the Appeals Court ruled that Tom Perez did not meet the qualification of having 10 years of practicing law in Maryland. Originally the current AG Curran had ruled that Perez' years as a federal prosecutor counted toward this requirement. The Republicans kept appealing the ruling all the way to the State Court of Appeals and had the ruling overturned. Because Perez' name cannot be taken off the ballot, votes for him will simply not count. The plan is to place signs prominently at the polling places saying that Perez is not a candidate. This whole situation is rather unfortunate as progressives were united behind the Montgomery County Councilman.
The two Democrats that remain are Montgomery County Prosecutor Doug Gansler (known from the high profile DC Sniper case) and former Baltimore state's attorney Stu Simms, the former running mate of Doug Duncan. Gansler clearly has the money (and the Washington Post endorsement), but Simms is receiving support from Duncan and State Senate President Mike Miller. Simms' website has a prominent message inviting Perez supporters to join his campaign.
This one is a toss-up and will be interesting to watch how these two campaigns adjust to having Perez knocked out of the race.
US Congress, MD-04
Donna Edwards is challenging Congressman Al Wynn in this contest, based on his votes for the war, for the bankruptcy bill and estate tax repeal, for the Terri Schiavo legislation, and for gutting the endangered species act. (see tag Donna Edwards for previous diaries on this race.) She has received endorsements from Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and Progressive Democrats of America.
This race recently became high profile, when Al Wynn's Congressional Staffer and two volunteers beat up a Donna Edwards volunteer outside the NAACP forum in Prince George's County. This incident brought attention to her campaign of change and its gaining momentum in the 4th District which includes a sizable portion of Montgomery and Prince George's counties, neighboring DC.
The Washington Post featured a story about Donna's challenge and another Virginia candidate's race in its Sunday edition this week.
You know Al Wynn is feeling the heat when he starts campaigning outside the Giant supermarket in Olney just 2 weeks after his opponent's volunteers handed out flyers there.
The question remains will Donna simply make this a close race or can she mobilize her support and beat Al Wynn in the primary? Remember primaries tend to only bring out 20-25% turnout. And historically Montgomery County Dems turnout in higher numbers than Prince George's County Dems. If Montgomery County were to come out heavily for Donna and she also cuts into Wynn's support in Prince George's County, she would beat Al Wynn in the primary.
UPDATE: Donna Edwards received the endorsement of the Washington Post. This is a HUGE deal!
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I think this topic warrants a part two with more on some of the local races. I'll try to post a Part II tomorrow.