In 2006, there was a poll in the last week leading to the election indicating that Then-Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D) were tied. Turned out they weren't. This year, the latest poll has O'Malley up by 14 points going into the election... and in a year that's been so tough for Democrats, O'Malley's campaign has done a BRILLIANT job in showing how it's done.
O'Malley, on paper, should have been vulnerable... He raised the state sales tax for the first time in 30 years in 2007... and he also raised TOP level income taxes. But he started advertising -- EARLY -- just after the primary.... in the Washington, DC. suburbs, reminding folks he grew up there himself... and stressing the area's top priority.. schools.
that wasn't all, though.
The BRILLIANCE came in the tough ads he aimed at Bob Ehrlich's way, tough but true. They made EHRLICH the incumbent.... and showed people scoffing at Ehrlich's insistence that he did not raise taxes as governor. He raised fees instead. (it now costs about 130 dollars to register your car -- every two years... I remember when it was 30 a year.) One key line from that spot: "If it comes out of MY pocket, it's a tax."
His ads also blasted Ehrlich for money he took from education, which meant tuition at state colleges went up 40 percent during the Ehrlich administration. Democrats forced him into a freeze during his last year in office... and O'Malley kept the freeze all four years.
Ehrlich and O'Malley were tied in the polls in the spring and early summer... those ads blew it wide open. Now, ehrlich is complaining about how dirty the race is. Really?? The same Gov. who had an aide who called himself "the angel of death" ...his job was to search out state workers who were registered Democrats in non-politically appointed jobs for firing. The same Gov whose peopel spread false rumors about O'Malley cheating on his wife with a Baltimore T-v reporter during the last go -round?? This one led to such bad blood that even WaPo reports the two men can't stand each other.
the Lesson?? Don't run from your record -- run on it -- and don't be afraid to charge the other guy.