As it stands right now in Maryland, both the Ehrlich campaign and the O'Malley campaign have been promoting absentee ballots as the way to ensure your vote is counted. That's because we are still using the insecure Diebold TS machines along with the e-poll books initiated by Elections Supervisor Linda Lamone. Diebold has supposedly fixed the problems with the e-poll books such that they won't lock up for every 40 voters that sign in to vote. Voters have responded to all the voting machine problems with a flood of requests for absentee ballots for the General Election. The question now is, will the BOE in each county be able to respond to the increased demand?
MD-AG: Gansler's eligibility challenged in court
Just like with Tom Perez, Republicans are once again questioning the eligibility of another Democratic candidate for Attorney General, Doug Gansler. They are questioning whether he practiced law in Maryland for the required 10 years.
Gansler has been a memeber of the state bar since 1989. However, Republicans are pointing to several years where he he worked for two Washington law firms and as assistant U.S. attorney based in Washington. Gansler's campaign manager insists that Gansler served Maryland clients during that time.
A spokesman for Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. said Liddy, the plaintiff, is represented by attorney Jason Shoemaker, who is also the campaign manager for Scott L. Rolle, the Republican's pick for attorney general.
Chopra called the case a "political act of desperation."
"I think it's kind of a desperate thing from Scott Rolle. He's 30 points down," Chopra said. "He needs to do what he can at this point."
Shoemaker, in an e-mail late last night, said Liddy has no connection to the Rolle campaign, and that the campaign did not instigate the litigation.
MD-Gov: Battling Negative Ads
Both the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post feature stories about the negative ads being volleyed between Bob Ehrlich and Martin O'Malley's campaigns. The Sun article reviews O'Malley's ad about Ehrlich that focusses on Bob Ehrlich's having forgotten his middle-class roots while also connecting him to Bush. Specifically that both men have blocked efforts to raise the minimum wage.
The Washington Post article reviews the Ehrlich ad that gives bad marks to both O'Malley and the city of Baltimore.
Mayor Martin O'Malley may be the target but Baltimore also takes a beating in a television ad launched yesterday by the Republican Governors Association, a 30-second tableau of urban decay that declares Maryland's largest municipality "the most dangerous city in America."
The ad, the first the group has aired in the state, features footage of a cemetery and a crime scene. The camera bounces erratically as the images lose and regain focus. The schools are in shambles, a female voice says, and the homicide rate is six times higher than New York City's. "Baltimore," the voice says, "Martin O'Malley's legacy of mismanagement. And now he wants a promotion so he can do for the entire state of Maryland what he did for Baltimore."
The O'Malley campaign was quick to condemn the ad, which they said perpetuated stereotypes about a city they said Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) is "essentially disowning."
"It's essentially unheard of for a governor to allow an outside group to attack the biggest city in his state," said Hari Sevugan, an O'Malley spokesman.
Baltimore is a city that has its fair share of problems. I guarantee you that O'Malley's job has been a much more difficult one than Bobby Haircut's cushy job in Annapolis. While Ehrlich spent his time there making commercials and whining about how the Dems have blocked his efforts to bring slots to the state, Martin O'Malley has been dealing with the difficult long term problems of Baltimore that include drugs and poverty. In the last several years, the schools have seen improvement and the city is seeing revitalization in several areas. Baltimore is no longer bleeding residents and is poised to see population growth. But you wouldn't know that if you only based your view of Baltimore on Ehrlich's ads. A previous ad also took aim at Baltimore.
A recent Ehrlich ad raised similar issues far more delicately: A Baltimore resident -- with a criminal record, it later emerged -- describes himself as a Democrat so concerned about crime and the city schools that he intends to vote for Ehrlich.
Criminals for Ehrlich -- sounds appropriate. LOL.
Yesterday, Democrats pointed out that the Republican group received a $100,000 contribution Sept. 29 from a prominent Maryland developer and Ehrlich supporter, Kingdon Gould. Gould, developer of the Konterra project in Prince George's County, has contributed $50,000 to Ehrlich through various companies since 1999. He was traveling yesterday and did not respond to calls seeking comment.
This Konterra developer has also pushed hard for the infamous Inter-County Connector project, a highway that will run from the heart of Montgomery County to what will be Konterra. This road is required for access to that town and thus Gould wants to see this road be built sooner than later. Ehrlich has been instrumental in getting what was once a dead project to now being very close to reality. However, a number of Montgomery County property owners are finding that this road now requires some of their land. Thanks to eminent domain laws, these folks are losing parcels of land and even their homes. And let's not even get into the environmental implications. It's these property owners who are filing suit that are now holding up this cash cow, errrr...road from being built.
MD-Sen: Actor Endorses Cardin, Slams Steele On Stem Cells
Michael J Fox, who has been seen recently in a powerful ad for Missouri Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, attacking her opponent on his votes against stem cell research, now is doing a similar commercial for Ben Cardin, attacking his opponent Michael Steele. Steele is known for extreme views on embryonic stem cell research, having likened it to Nazi research and the holocaust.
"He wants to take on races and get involved in races that involve a pro stem cell candidate against an anti embryonic stem cell candidate," John Rogers, a publicist for Fox, told The Washington Post.
Fox, known for roles in the "Family Ties" and "Spin City" television series and the "Back to the Future" films, has long supported research that could lead to a treatment.
Fox agreed to film the Maryland spot after an associate met Myrna Cardin, the candidate's wife, at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee event in Maryland last month, Cardin spokesman Oren Shur said.
Cardin has voted in favor of the bill to expand federally funded research, a measure that cleared Congress but was vetoed by President Bush.
UPDATE: These are the ads that Rush Limbaugh, hypocrite and drug addict, contends that Fox stopped taking his medication in order to look bad for. That's a pretty sick accusation, but then again, I guess that's what Republicans would do if in a similar situation. They lie and cheat whenever possible.
UPDATE 2: Here's the ad.