Democrat Owings out of governor's race, reports say
Democrat George W. Owings III, a former state lawmaker from Southern Maryland and veterans secretary in the administration of Republican Bob Ehrlich, is dropping out of the governor's race as he recuperates from major surgery, according to reports.
The Washington Post reported the departure Wednesday evening, as did the Associated Press. Owings' campaign web site appeared not to have been updated with the information as of Thursday morning.
Owings had mounted an upstart challenge from the right to incumbent Gov. Martin O'Malley, stressing fiscal restraint.
Owings exit from the race reduces the chances that O'Malley will be embarrassed at the ballot box in the September primary.
In a year when voters are expected to register their discontent with incumbents, and especially those of the same party as Democratic President Barack Obama, significant vote tallies by Owings would have been viewed as a sign of weakness for O'Malley.
In 2002, a retired grocery store clerk from Silver Spring, Robert Fustero, collected 20 percent of the vote in the Democratic gubernatorial primary against heavily favored Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. The showing of Fustero -- who selected a homeless man as a running mate and spent less than $1,500 on his campaign -- was glaring evidence of Townsend's flawed candidacy. She went on to lose the general election to Bob Ehrlich.
Comments
When Governor Schaefer ran for re-election in 1990, he did even worse than Townsend in the Democratic primary. Schaefer's no-name primary opponent got 22% of the vote, but nobody claimed that that was glaring evidence of Schaefer's weakness. It's all just a matter of spin.
Interesting Captcha: seeger Democrat
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Hmpstd: If I recall my history correctly, Schaefer himself viewed his 1990 election totals as a sign of weakness, and went into a significant funk after the election. -- David
Posted by: hmpstd | July 1, 2010 8:42 AM
David, you are correct that Schaefer went into a funk after losing 12 counties in the 1990 general election (which led to his infamous reference to the Eastern Shore in the 1991 session of the General Assembly). However, I can't recall that Schaefer went into a funk after the 1990 primary, in which he carried all 23 counties as well as Baltimore City. I also can't recall that the GOP tried to spin Schaefer's primary results to its advantage in the general election.
Townsend, like Schaefer, carried all 23 counties and Baltimore City in the 2002 primary, with a higher percentage of the vote than Schaefer. The only difference between the two primaries was that the GOP got the media to buy into the line that the 2002 primary results were proof of Townsend's weakness. Like I said, it's all just a matter of spin.
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Hampstead: Fair points. I did not do my homework to make a distinction between primary and general results in 1990. Your detailed description is valid and useful.
I don't recall that Republicans pushed the Fustero story hard in 2002; perhaps they did. Sounds to me -- and I say this respectfully and genially -- that you are starting the "reverse spin" to play down the significance if O'Malley only gets 80 percent of the vote in the primary. Which is certainly within your rights! -- David
Posted by: hmpstd | July 1, 2010 10:37 AM
It a shame that he dropped out. Even though it is understanding due a major operation.
All people running for office needs competition.
Maybe someone else may step out and challenge Gov O' Malley in the primary.
Posted by: Les | July 1, 2010 11:07 AM
David, I doubt that somebody at The Sun concocted the canard about Townsend's alleged weakness in the 2002 primary. It seems more plausible that somebody in the GOP came up with that whopper. (It was probably somebody who also thought it unfair that Sauerbrey could carry 21 counties yet still lose to Glendening in 1994.)
Let's face it -- many people in Maryland would rather vote for a ham sandwich than for the favorite in the Democratic primary, even with only token opposition. In 1998, Glendening got "only" 70% of the primary vote, even though the runner-up, Eileen Rehrmann, had abandoned her candidacy. (The State Board of Elections website has the numbers for Statewide elections going back to 1986.)
I'm not denying that Townsend was a weak candidate in November, but she still had a higher percentage of the primary vote than any other Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the last 25 years (save for O'Malley, who ran unopposed in the 2006 primary). In Maryland, evidently, primary results have no true bearing on the results come November.
Posted by: hmpstd | July 1, 2010 7:33 PM