Yes, you read that correctly.

Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. -- notorious for being unable to work out debate logistics -- have agreed to one, both campaigns confirmed this evening.

The hourlong debate is booked for 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 11, in-studio at Baltimore's WJZ. It is sponsored by the Baltimore Jewish Council and will be moderated by anchor Denise Koch. The debate is to air at 7 that evening.

"We are very pleased that both candidates ... have agreed to a debate," said WJZ vice president and general manager Jay Newman. He said he and Art Abramson, director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, negotiated with the campaigns for weeks.

O'Malley's spokesman Rick Abbruzzese and Ehrlich's spokesman Andy Barth both said the candidates are "looking forward to it."

Each candidate will give opening and closing remarks, Newman said, and will discuss five to seven issues. Newman said the station will solicit questions from viewers.

Barth said his understanding is that the debate is to be "pretty free form."

O'Malley and Ehrlich went head to head on WJZ four years ago, too. More details to come.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

The Washington Board of Trade, a business-leaders group similar to the Greater Baltimore Committee, today announced its support of Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley.

In the two previous gubernatorial elections, the Board of Trade backed Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. -- giving the O'Malley endorsement more of an exclamation point and providing the governor with new ammunition when Ehrlich attacks him as anti-business.

The announcement comes on a day when the National Federation of Independent Business said it favors Ehrlich because small business growth is a "centerpiece" of his economic plan. The group traditionally backs Republicans.

The Washington Board of Trade said in a news release that leaders interviewed both candidates and chose O'Malley "because of his demonstrated understanding of the key issues facing businesses and his track-record of including the business community in fashioning solutions to the region’s most pressing challenges."

Among the issues the board considered, according to the release, were O'Malley's commitment to the Purple Line light rail project in Montgomery County and continued support of the Inter-County Connector highway under construction.

Jim Dinegar, president and CEO of the Board of Trade, said in a brief interview that O'Malley has been easy to work with -- while Ehrlich hadn't been.

Ehrlich's relationship with the board, Dinegar said, "had its ups and downs. My understanding is that at times he was difficult to work with, even though we had agreement on many of the same issues," Dinegar said, adding that he was not president of the board during Ehrlich's tenure.

O'Malley quickly touted the backing in a release, saying he was honored. "We have made the tough decisions to restore fiscal responsibility in Annapolis, create new jobs, and plan for Maryland's long-term economic growth," O'Malley said.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

The National Rifle Association has endorsed the re-election of Rep. Frank Kratovil of Maryland in the state's most competitive congressional contest.

Kratovil “has earned the endorsement of the NRA-PVF (political victory fund) because has defended the Second Amendment freedoms of law-abiding gun owners, hunters and sportsmen in Maryland and across America,” said Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist. “On November 2, I urge all Maryland NRA Members and gun owners in the 1st District to vote Frank Kratovil for Congress."

The influential gun lobby also gave the Democratic freshman an "A" for legislative efforts during his initial term in Congress. The NRA said he had signed a "successful pro-gun" legal brief in a key Second Amendment case. He also voted to allow Americans to carry firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges and cosponsored legislation to overhaul the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Finally, Kratovil signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder opposing a new ban on semi-automatic firearms and ammunition magazines, and cosponsored a national right-to-carry reciprocity bill involving state right-to-carry licenses and permits.

Republican candidate Andy Harris failed to get the NRA's endorsement but did receive an "A" rating from the NRA as a "solidly pro-gun candidate." Commenters on this blog in recent weeks have noted that Harris, a veteran state legislator from Baltimore County, once voted against Sunday hunting on the Eastern Shore.

We'll be watching to see whether the NRA backs up its Kratovil endorsement with letters and phone calls to NRA members in the First District, which covers the entire Eastern Shore and portions of Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Harford counties.

Posted by Paul West at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Updated

For Maryland Democrats who took solace in the recent published poll showing Gov. Martin O'Malley with a double-digit lead over Republican challenger Bob Ehrlich, here's some think-twice information:

The Democratic National Committee has just put another $125,000 into Maryland, bringing the total for the campaign cycle to $225,000.

Considering that few other Democrats in the state even face competitive races, with the exception of Eastern Shore Congressman Frank Kratovil, that infusion of national cash may suggest that the Democrats' own polling isn't as favorable as indicated by a Washington Post survey released this week.

One thing for sure: Democrats face plenty of other challenges around the country and the national party wouldn't be reupping in one of the very bluest states unless Dem strategists felt they absolutely had to. 

DNC spokesman Alec Gerlach said the suggestion that national Democrats are worried about Maryland is "completely off base."  He said the money was "part of a longstanding commitment" to assist the state party and Democratic candidates in their coordinated federal-state effort to get out the vote.

He also said the DNC has put more money into other states, including $833,000 in Ohio and $1.2 million in Florida. 

“This transfer represents a standing commitment the DNC has made months ago to the Maryland Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign. The DNC is investing $50 million in races across the country – the largest ever investment from the DNC in a midterm election,” Gerlach said in a prepared statement.

Posted by Paul West at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

David Scott has a greater sense of style than might have been expected of the city's chief garbage man.

Before he was forced out as public works director in July, Scott spent more than $28,000 renovating and decorating his office. The renovation — wood flooring, stone facade on one wall, full bath, that sort of thing — came to about $11,800. The furnishings, which included a $1,200 office chair, $999 zebra-stripe area rug and $968 glass desk top, rang up to $16,600.

WBAL-TV was first with this scoop, but I managed to get Scott on the phone Wednesday to hear what he had to say for himself.

Scott said lots of people signed off on the makeover, which was approved when now-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake headed the Board of Estimates. "The Board of Estimates did approve the flooring, and finance and procurement approved everything else," the Sheila Dixon appointee said.

(I'm not sure that will make taxpayers feel any better, but why should Scott be hung out to dry on his own?)

Even more puzzling than how so many bureaucrats signed off on this stuff is this: How can a guy who is supposed to be focused on sewers, storm drains and solid waste have a taste for such elegant office décor? Was I wrong, I asked Scott, to assume DPW chiefs are devoid of style?

"I am not devoid of style," Scott replied with a laugh. But he said the makeover was not about personal chic so much as a public agency's mission.

"It is actually a greener office," he said. "The wood floor was actually reclaimed barn wood." (That recycled barn wood commanded $15.52 a square foot.)

And the stone wall?

"We were thinking stone from the watershed — watershed features, things like that," he said. "Public Works is not just garbage. It's also water and wastewater."

And waste.

Posted by Laura Vozzella at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

When New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg comes to Maryland Thursday to endorse Gov. Martin O'Malley's re-election bid, he'll do it at a Bethesda-based business with the slogan "Be Real. Get Honest."

The company is Honest Tea, which I could describe as a maker of iced teas, but that would be a little like calling Whole Foods a supermarket. Honest Tea is a maker of fair-trade, antioxidant-rich, low-sugar and organic iced teas — which come, naturally, in BPA-free bottles.

It's a successful company, with just the kind of product two health-conscious pols might like to be associated with. But O'Malley probably already has the green-tea vote locked up. Could the Honest Tea tie-in backfire with the Lipton types he still needs to court?

Perhaps O'Malley should play up something Honest Tea would probably rather forget: last summer's kombucha recall.

In June, Honest Tea pulled the fermented product from store shelves after tests showed it contained more than the usual trace amounts of alcohol. The raw, unpasteurized drink, which is thought, like other probiotic foods, to boost the immune system and aid digestion, had somehow continued to ferment after bottling. The problem was straightened out, and the product was back in stores by August.

O'Malley, whose fondness for Guinness is well known, might be able to spin the hoochy kombucha to appeal to Joe Six Pack.

Posted by Laura Vozzella at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is backing former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., while current Mayor Michael Bloomberg supports Gov. Martin O'Malley, the gubernatorial candidates' campaigns reported today.

Neither endorsement was a surprise.

Giuliani campaigned for Ehrlich, a fellow Republican, in 2006. No word yet on whether he'll be back here in the next five weeks. Bloomberg, who is coming to Bethesda tomorrow for an O'Malley rally, made his support of the Democratic candidate public a few weeks ago.

“There is only one candidate running for Governor of Maryland who is capable of restoring Maryland’s economy and that is Bob Ehrlich," Giuliani said in an Ehrlich campaign release. "His plan for the next four years – creating jobs, lowering the tax burden of families and entrepreneurs, and reining in government spending – is exactly what Maryland needs."

A Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent, not to mention possible 2012 presidential contender, Bloomberg has criss-crossed the country to stump for candidates whom he believes to be moderate antidotes to angry partisans.

Bloomberg, who is a graduate, former trustee and benefactor of the Johns Hopkins University, supports O'Malley for his "commitment to effective government, job creation and public education," O'Malley's campaign said in a release.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Gov. Martin O'Malley did something unusual this morning: He drove.

The Democrat preceded his four-year term as governor with a seven-year stint as Baltimore mayor. Those jobs have long come with the perk of an official driver.

But after an announcement this morning about 11 new jobs coming to a GM transmission plant in White Marsh, O'Malley hopped into a Chevy Volt for the TV cameras.

"You sure you want me to do this?" he said jokingly. "It's the first time in 10 years."

(Aides say that's a bit of an exaggeration on his part; he does occasionally drive.)

Reporters stuck around in case the infrequent driver veered off the road.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: For fun
        

The Maryland Green Party announced today that it has nominated Kenniss Henry to replace her daughter, Natasha Pettigrew, on the ballot for U.S. Senate. Pettigrew died earlier this month after a sports utility vehicle struck her while she was cycling in Pringe George's County.

Henry's name was submitted Monday to the State Board of Elections for the seat long held by Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. The party's coordinating council voted unanimously Sunday night to nominate Henry.

"Natasha's supporters will still have an opportunity to make their voice heard by casting a vote as her mother carries her message forward to the election," Karen Jennings, co-chair of the Maryland Green Party, said in a statement. "Even in her death, Natasha's voice and passion will carry on."

Henry said in the statement that she is honorored to run her "daughter's race to the finish line." She said she would continue her daughter's theme of campaigning "for the people."

Pettigrew, a 30-year-old law student at the University of Miami, was training for a half-triathlon when she was killed. In honor of her daughter, the Green Party said, Henry seeks to bring attention to bicycle safety and the need for bicycle lanes on all Maryland roadways.

The Maryland State Police are investigating the accident. Police said the driver of the Cadillac Escalade that struck her before dawn on Route 202 drove off, thinking she'd hit an animal. The woman called the police when she arrived home and found a bicycle lodged under her vehicle.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

* Updated with candidate reaction. * 

A Washington Post poll out this morning shows that Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley has widened his lead over Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., compared to a poll the newspaper conducted earlier this year. O'Malley drew 52 percent of likely voter support to Ehrlich's 41 percent in the new poll.

And the governor appears to be more popular than in any other poll The Post has conducted during his administration, even as Maryland struggles with the fits and starts of an economy that remains fairly weak.

Ehrlich said the poll is "out of whack" with the other polls conducted in the race. "It is light years away," he said.  Meanwhile, O'Malley said he's taking the results the way he takes all poll results: "with a grain of salt."

(More reaction from both candidates and their campaigns below the jump.)

With just under five weeks until Election Day, the governor candidates have kicked their campaigns into high gear, both announcing high-profile supporters yesterday and running a volley of attack ads.

Other recent polls have found a closer margin between the two candidates -- but have also shown O'Malley gaining ground when compared to earlier polls conducted by those same organizations. A Rasmussen Reports poll out Sept. 20 showed O'Malley winning 50 percent of likely voters to Ehrlich's 47 percent. An August Rasmussen poll had them tied at 47 percent.

"Nearly every other poll shows this race statistically tied," Ehrlich spokesman Henry Fawell said in an email this morning. "Just last week, The Post's own Chris Cillizza moved this race from 'leaning Democrat' to 'Toss Up.' Exactly one year ago The Post poll in the Virginia gubernatorial race said Democrat Creigh Deeds was within striking distance (four points). He lost by 18 points one month later. We are very confident that Marylanders want to do better than the massive job losses and record deficits under Martin O'Malley and are embracing Bob Ehrlich's plan to fix the economy." 

O'Malley campaign spokesman Rick Abbruzzese has this to say in an email: “Maryland families know Governor O’Malley is on their side, and he’s working every day to move our state forward.  There have been and will be many polls, but one consistent theme is that voters are hearing Governor O’Malley’s message and he’s well positioned to win in November.” 

After an event this morning in White Marsh, O'Malley said the poll, while favorable to him a "snapshot."

"These snapshots will vary widely" throughout the next five weeks, he said. "It all comes down to turnout," he said -- something he said will be an intense focus for his campaign.

In 2006, O'Malley, then the mayor of Baltimore, toppled the popular Republican governor, winning by a margin of 6.5 percent, or about 117,000 votes. The Sun recently examined how the electorate has changed in the past four years and what each candidate must do to win.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (50)
Categories: Horserace
        

It has become conventional wisdom in Washington that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is poised to bail on Frank Kratovil's uphill re-election fight in Maryland and direct its money to more winnable contests elsewhere.

The DCCC defies that prediction, at least for now, with a new ad attacking Kratovil's Republican foe Andy Harris. The 30-second spot attempts to portray the veteran state lawmaker from Baltimore County as out of touch with the lives of voters in the district, which spans the Chesapeake Bay and takes in Western Shore portions of Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Harford counties, plus the entire Eastern Shore.

The new commercial, click here to view it, reinforces recent Kratovil ads that go after Harris for his support of the "fair tax," a consumption tax plan that is a favorite of some conservatives. The DCCC pioneered that line of attack in other races before Kratovil picked it up; as we noted here before, the ads have been criticized by nonpartisan watchdogs as misleading, because they don't inform voters that the sales tax would replace the existing federal tax system.

According to the DCCC, the ad is running in both the Baltimore and Salisbury media markets. It is the first broadcast ad in the race by the committee, which is chaired by Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

Posted by Paul West at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Mitt Romney, Republican former governor of Massachusetts and often-discussed 2012 presidential contender, announced today that has given money to four Maryland Republicans, including gubernatorial hopeful Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

Romney's Free and Strong America political action committee sent $10,000 to Ehrlich and $2,500 each to U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett and congressional candidates Andy Harris and Charles Lollar.

In a statement posted on his web site, Romney said he is "proud to stand with these candidates today." Romney's endorsements of candidates all across the country are "aimed at electing conservative candidates who will work to lower taxes and spending, restore commonsense principles to healthcare and get our economy moving again," according to his web site.

Ehrlich said in a statement that he was "honored" by the endorsement. “As an accomplished executive in both the private and public sectors, he understands that the path to economic recovery in Maryland and America begins with empowering entrepreneurs, lowering the tax burden on hardworking families, and reining in government spending. I look forward to applying these principles to state government after November’s election.” 

Romney was keynote speaker at this year's Maryland Republican Party fundraising gala. No word yet on whether he'll stump here for Ehrlich.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Campaign finance
        

Incumbent Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski may be leading in the polls by double digits and enjoying a big financial edge over a little-known Republican opponent. But that isn't stopping her from raising money like she's in the race of her life.

Recently, she called upon Vice President Joe Biden to be the draw at a fundraising breakfast in Chevy Chase. And next month she'll benefit when Bill Clinton lends his star power to an event for her in Montgomery County.

Prospective donors are invited to join the former president at a cocktail reception and buffet dinner on Sunday, Oct. 10. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley will also be a "special guest," according to a copy of the invitation posted on the Sunlight Foundation's website; a portion of the money raised that night will go to the Maryland Democratic Party.

Mikulski was an early supporter of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential candidacy, and the Clintons have been very good about remembering their friends in the 2010 election, even those, like Maryland's senior Democrat, who don't appear to need much help.

The event is to be held at the Bethesda home of Mark L. Joseph, former president of Yellow Cab of Baltimore and now head of Veolia Transportation's North American operations, which covers transportation services in at least 22 states and two Canadian provinces and calls itself the largest private sector operator of multiple modes of transit on the continent.

According to the invitation, Mikulski will get the first $2,400 of each individual donation ($5,000 from political action committees). The state party gets the next $10,000 ($5,000 from PACs). No ticket price is listed on the invitation but small donors don't seem to be the target audience.

Those listed as hosts for the event include Ann Lewis, an adviser to both Clintons adviser who once worked for Mikulski; former Clinton Justice department official Jamie Gorelick; big-time Democratic money man Michael Bronfein of Baltimore; and the Kennedy Krieger Institute's Lainy Lebow-Sachs, longtime aide to former Gov. and Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer; and Annapolis lobbyist Scott Livingston.

Posted by Paul West at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

The Maryland League of Conservation Voters is mailing 130,000 absentee ballot applications to registered voters -- an effort that could prove beneficial to Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and other candidates endorsed by the environmental group. The applications are expected to begin showing up in mailboxes today.

This marks the largest voter outreach effort by the Maryland group. In 2006, the conservation league sent out applications and postcards to 70,000 voters. (That was the first election after absentee ballot rules were loosened. There's no longer a need to provide a reason for voting by mail.)

The voter outreach is funded through the league's nonprofit educational arm, so the applications come with no partisan political message, said Cindy Schwartz, executive director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters.

Neither red nor blue voters are targeted -- only green ones.

Schwartz said the mailing list was compiled in part by selecting voters most likely to agree with the pro-environment positions taken by the league. An algorithm developed by the National League of Conservation Voters reviews publicly available consumer and voting data to find the greenest voters. The national group has been doing absentee ballot mailings for more than a decade, Schwartz said.

A report about the 2006 Maryland outreach showed that environmental voters cast absentee ballots in higher proportions than the rest of voters. But the mailings had no appreciable impact; had those voters not cast absentee ballots, they probably would have shown up on Election Day, the report said.

The league used those findings to tweak its approach this time around, Schwartz said. For one, the absentee ballot applications now look "more generic."

"We don't want it to be seen as another piece of campaign mail to be tossed aside," Schwartz said. "We want it to be seen as a serious piece of mail."

All registered voters have until Oct. 26 to request an absentee ballot. Check the state Board of Elections web site for details.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Early voting, Elections
        

Democratic Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin has the good fortune to be the only member of the state's congressional delegation not facing an angry electorate this fall (his seat is up in 2012, and he's already running an unannounced re-election campaign).

Just because his job's not immediately at risk doesn't mean he's on the sidelines, though. Cardin is playing an active role, behind the scenes, as a money man. Tonight, he'll add to his 2010 campaign fund with a dinner for lobbyists at Charlie Palmer Steak, conveniently located just steps from Senate offices on Capitol Hill and a whirlwind of political money activity this week.

Proceeds from Cardin's event (tickets are $2,500 and $5,000) will go to LEG PAC, a so-called Leadership PAC controlled by the Maryland senator, who like most members of Congress isn't actually in the leadership, but that's how these things got started so that's what they're called.

Senators and congressmen use the accounts to gather donations from special interests and then redirect it to other candidates, political parties and -- the main point-- their own ambitions. Think of it as a form of legalized money-laundering.

The way it works: Special interest groups--trade associations, corporations, labor unions and others--donate up to $10,000 per election to the fund. Then the lawmakers, in this case Cardin, distribute the largesse to their colleagues, earning gratitude in the process.

This fall there's another incentive: with majority control of Congress at stake, helping an endangered colleague win re-election could spell the difference between governing in the majority or suffering in the minority for the next two years.

Cardin's PAC capitalized on the recent special-interest fight over health care, grabbing donations from the cardiologists, dermatologists, emergency physicians, anesthesiologists, ophthalmologists, dentists and psychiatrists. Also, Medimmune, CVS/Caremark, the trial lawyers and the Houston law firm Locke, Lord, Bissell & Liddell.

Other corporate interests who gave included Constellation Energy, Mass Mutual Life Insurance, the Realtors, the National Association of REITs, Fidelity investments and Prudential Financial, along with defense contractors Eads North America, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.

Labor union contributors included AFSCME, the IBEW, Air Traffic Controllers, Machinists and Food and Commercial Workers.

And where did the money go? The campaign arm of Senate Democrats got $30,000. The Maryland Democratic Central Committee got $10,000. Cardin also gave directly to Senate colleagues in tough races, including Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Barbara Boxer of California and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, who each got $5,000, as did Kendrick Meek, seeking an open Senate seat in Florida.

Finally, there were the donations to those who didn't need the money, since they are considered strong bets for re-election. Maryland colleague Barbara A. Mikulski got $5,000, as did Vermont Sen. Pat Leahy, who is Cardin's boss on the Judiciary committee.

As of June 30, Cardin's PAC had collected $117,600 and directed $77,500 to other Dems and party entities.

To put that into perspective, Cardin's PAC ranks 140th in the amount of money donated to other candidates, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in campaigns.

The indefatigable Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the House Majority Leader, has raised more than $2.4 million and distributed $886,000 to fellow Democrats in the 2010 campaign. That puts him first among Democrats but second overall to his Republican counterpart, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the minority whip, who has raked in more than $3 million and funneled $1.2 million to GOP candidates in the fight for control of the House this November.

Posted by Paul West at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Baltimore area residents who listen to African-American radio stations like WOLB this morning will hear President Barack Obama making a pitch to re-elect Gov. Martin O'Malley, according to the governor's campaign.

(Text of the ad and a link to hear it appear after the jump.)

The radio spot will feature the president touting fellow Democrat O'Malley's record on education and the economy. It will be later be aired on a broader number of radio stations, said O'Malley Deputy Campaign Manager Rick Abbruzzese.

Rumors that Obama (or the First Lady) will stump for O'Malley in Maryland have been swirling around the State House for weeks -- but those intensified Monday. Abbruzzese would not confirm whether the president has committed to campaign.

Fueling the talk perhaps was O'Malley's Monday stop at the White House  to witness Obama sign into law a bill that included a program that lets governments guarantee some small business loans -- an initiative that the governor has been pushing in order to help businesses borrow funds from the still tight capital markets.

In the dead-heat gubernatorial competition, turnout will be critical, and the state's top Democrats are nervous after the unusually poor showing in the primary. Over the summer polls showed that Obama was still fairly popular in Maryland -- which is 29.7 percent African-American.

The country's first black president could be particularly helpful in Baltimore and Prince George's County, two majority African-American and majority Democratic areas where O'Malley is counting on racking up the votes needed to win.

Text and ad link, provided by the O'Malley campaign:

Narrator: An important message from President Barack Obama.

The President: Maryland.  You have a choice in the election this fall. A choice whether you keep moving forward with the hard working leadership and vision of Governor Martin O'Malley ... or do you slip backwards ?

In the toughest of times, Martin O'Malley has moved Maryland forward creating jobs, investing in schools, providing affordable opportunities for college, and improving public safety.

I've seen Martin work ... and I know this governor has made the tough decisions to put education, safety, and job creation first.

So, stand with me, Barack Obama, in Moving Maryland Forward with my friend ... Martin O'Malley.

Narrator: So please join President Barack Obama in supporting Martin O'Malley for Governor.  Because voting in this year's election is to best way to strengthen our schools, create new jobs, and keep Maryland Moving Forward.

MOM: Paid for by friends of Martin O'Malley. M.Cadagon, treasurer

You can listen to the ad here.

Posted by Annie Linskey at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Political ads
        

Gov. Martin O'Malley was among Democratic leaders who joined President Barack Obama today at the White House for the signing of a bill aimed at helping small businesses.

O'Malley was invited because part of the federal bill -- a government guarantee of private loans to small businesses -- was patterned after a provision used in Maryland, according to aides to the governor.

The federal legislation will provide $1.5 billion to expand the capacity of small business loan guarantee programs that Maryland and 33 other states and U.S. territories now have, according to a statement from O'Malley's office.

“Maryland was pleased to play a role in helping to craft this legislation and working with our federal partners to move it forward,allowing our small businesses to once again focus on growing and creating jobs," O'Malley said in a statement.

O'Malley has signed into law several measures meant to foster jobs and improve conditions for businesses that have struggled in a tough national economy. But the programs' effectiveness has been questionable. Two months of job losses show, as O'Malley has acknowledged, that the state has a way to go on the recovery front. 

O'Malley wrote in an August commentary in The Washington Post that the Maryland Small Business Credit Recovery Program helped "save and create more than 400 jobs." 

This week, his administration will launch a series of workshops to raise awareness about the loan guarantees.

The Sun's Jamie Smith Hopkins recently wrote about how relatively few employers have taken advantage of a $5,000 tax credit they can claim when hiring out-of-work Marylanders. In six months, 10 percent of the $20 million the state budgeted has been used. The tax credit has helped put 350 unemployed people back to work.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: jobs, jobs, jobs
        

* Updated Monday with comments from AFSCME and FOP presidents. 

The largest union of state workers rallied Saturday in Baltimore to announce its endorsement of Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley for a second term. Meanwhile, word of the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police endorsement of Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is quietly spreading.

Better known as AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees includes 30,000 state and higher education workers in Maryland. In 2006, AFSCME also chose O'Malley over Ehrlich. Both times the union cited O'Malley's willingness to engage in dialogue -- a characteristic it says Ehrlich lacked.

"We had two options, and we went with someone that has honored the collective bargaining process," AFSCME Maryland Director Patrick Moran said Sunday evening. "When the economic crisis hit, Governor O'Malley was willing to sit down with state employees as opposed to Governor Ehrlich, who doesn't believe in the process."

The Maryland Fraternal Order of Police, having been lobbied by both candidates at a recent meeting in Ocean City, voted to endorse Ehrlich. The state lodge doesn't appear to have made an official announcement yet, but Baltimore police union president Robert F. Cherry wrote about it Friday on the city lodge's web site. The police union includes thousands of officers across the state. It backed Ehrlich in 2006.

Reached Monday, State FOP President Rodney Bartlett, said the Ehrlich endorsement was "all about the economic times."

"Officers do a great job, as evidence by the lower crime rate, but it's hard for them when they take home less pay than they did four years ago," said Bartlett, a retired Prince George's County police officer.

Moran said his union chose O'Malley because the governor had worked with them in tough economic times and was able to avoid "wholesale layoffs." Instead, Moran said in a statement, "the pain was spread out, through tiered furloughs, and services were saved."

State employees have been through several rounds of unpaid days off -- furloughs -- during the O'Malley administration. Most have been subjected to at least eight furlough days each year.

Ehrlich has said he does not approve of furloughs. That's one reason he collected the endorsement of a smaller state workers union, the Maryland Classified Employees Association, earlier this month. MCEA has about 10,000 members, including many correctional officers.

MCEA also favored Ehrlich because O'Malley signed into law a requirement that state employees pay dues to the union in charge of collective bargaining, whether the employee is a member of that union or not. MCEA is not designated to do collective bargaining; AFCME is.

As the Nov. 2 election draws near, expect the pace of endorsement announcements to quicken.

O'Malley has the backing of a number of other unions -- no surprise, since unions traditionally favor Democratic candidates. In early September, the Maryland Service Employees International Union, which has about 8,000 members, said it would work for O'Malley. The Maryland firefighters union (IAFF) also is among O'Malley's supporters.

O'Malley also has deployed the somewhat unusual tactic of announcing the endorsements of individual business leaders. Sun business columnist Jay Hancock has more on that over at his blog.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Baltimore's Bolton Hill is home to many politically active families, so it's no surprise to see candidate placards propped in windows and staked in tiny front lawns.

But one for Baltimore County executive?

Though city residents may do a double take when spotting Kevin Kamenetz's distinctive purple-and-yellow sign on a home in downtown Baltimore, there's an easy explanation: His brother lives there.

In May, The Sun wrote about the renovated Bolton Hill home of Darma and Greg Kamenetz. They owned the property for years but, after a fire, renovated it and moved in.

Greg Kamenetz is managing partner of a real estate development company and owner of a property management company. Kevin Kamenetz, a Democratic county council member, faces Republican Ken Holt in the Nov. 2 county executive election.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: In The Counties
        

Baltimore Sun colleague Andrea Siegel reports:

A member of the Maryland National Guard has filed a federal lawsuit against the State Board of Elections, claiming military personnel and other overseas Marylanders could be denied the opportunity to vote for state offices in the general election unless the court intervenes.

In the lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, the anonymous guardsman identified as Officer John Doe says the state did not give overseas voters enough time to obtain and return ballots for statewide offices in the November elections, which include the contest for governor.

Joining as co-plaintiff is the Military Voter Protection Project. Eric Eversole, the Navy judge advocate general who heads the Washington-based organization, says the ballots for federal offices that the Maryland board sent a few days after this month’s primary elections were not valid.

Results of the Sept. 14 primary have not yet been certified; for the seat now held by Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the ballots includes provisions to mark either of two Republican challengers who are locked in a tight primary contest.

Eversole worked in the voting section of the civil rights division of the Justice Department during the Bush administration, and advised the McCain-Palin campaign on military voting matters. He said the lawsuit was not motivated by partisanship.

Ross Goldstein, deputy director of the elections board, declined to comment directly on the lawsuit. But he said the Justice Department and military authorities signed off on the office’s plan to send out ballots for congressional offices quickly after the primaries.

A 2009 federal law requires that ballots for federal races be available to military and overseas voters at least 45 days before an election.

The Military Voter Protection Project is asking a federal judge to order that ballots be sent by Oct. 8 and to extend the deadline for counting them to Nov. 22.

Elections officials plan to send full absentee ballots to the affected voters by mid-October. The ballots must be returned to the state board by Nov. 12. Primary results are to be certified Monday; challenges are possible.

Maryland holds primary elections only seven weeks before the general election, the briefest interim in the nation. Elections officials had sought a waiver from the federal Military and Overseas Empowerment Act requirement before withdrawing the request.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

*** Updated to reflect new details about how GOP obtained the report. See end of post.

"Maryland's Market Stalls During July" was the header on a jobs analysis posted to the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation web site last month. The Maryland Republican Party seized on the pessimistically worded document to call Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley to task at a time when he was touting uninterrupted months of jobs growth.

But the analysis was quickly removed from the labor department's web site -- even before the Maryland GOP had a chance to take a screen shot of it. Yesterday, the party obtained a copy, resurrecting the issue just as a new jobs report shows that, indeed, July was a bad month for jobs. And August was even worse.

When it was taken down last month, the "missing report" was replaced by a more upbeat summary. The numbers in the two web documents were identical, Labor Secretary Alexander Sanchez told The Sun at the time. Only the accompanying rhetoric changed.

Sanchez said the original report, prepared by an agency data analyst, was "completely internal" and not meant for public consumption. It was replaced with the correct version, he said.

Republicans have a different take on why the report was removed.

"It’s now clear the government knew Maryland’s economy had faltered in July yet despite being caught red-handed; they deliberately withheld the information to benefit O’Malley’s reelection bid," GOP Chairwoman Audrey Scott said in a statement.

The initial analysis resurfaces at an uncomfortable time: Although the U.S Labor Department initially believed that Maryland experienced a small growth in jobs in July, it has revised its figures to show that the state actually lost a net of 1,000 jobs that month. Maryland employers shed another 5,700 jobs last month, according to that same U.S. Labor Department report.

Those new numbers underline the point that perhaps the state should have stuck with the glass-half-empty version of the analysis. From it:

"Job growth, although slowing, has proceeded without interruption over the last five months ... Growth, however, has been uneven and we can expect, in the months ahead, to face an uphill struggle in trying to regain the jobs lost during the downturn and to return to the peak employment level of February 2008."

The Sun examined how this week's jobs report forces a change in tone in the governor's race.

From the story:

As he opened a meeting of the state's spending panel on Wednesday, Gov. Martin O'Malley struck a somber tone. The day before, the state had released a report showing that Maryland had lost jobs for two months in a row.

"None of us can give up," he said. "There are better days coming."

It was a notable contrast to O'Malley's demeanor just a month ago, when he led a group of local officials gathered in Ocean City in a gleeful cheerleading chant: "Repeat after me. Five months. In a row. Of positive. Job growth."

The Democratic governor and his opponent this fall, Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., both have said the economy is the single most important issue of the campaign. For months, O'Malley has trumpeted the state's monthly jobs gains in an attempt to temper voter anger about the national recession.

But the news this week that the state suffered two months of job losses after four months of growth means O'Malley must adopt a more muted approach when discussing the economy.

"There's no question the jobs report is going to have an impact on the campaign," said Todd Eberly, acting director of the Center for the Study of Democracy at St. Mary's College.

 *** New details. In late August, the Maryland GOP filed an open-records request for the July jobs report removed from the state labor department web site. On Monday, GOP officials put out a release saying they hadn't received the report from the agency.

A friend of the GOP forwarded the report to the party Thursday afternoon, around 2 p.m., according to GOP spokesman Ryan Mahoney. The party released a statement at 4 p.m. Two hours later, the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation sent the GOP the report via email, according to Mahoney and an O'Malley administration spokesman.

The administration spokesman contends that the GOP should have obtained the jobs report via mail a day earlier.

The headline of this blog post has been updated to reflect these new details.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 7:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: jobs, jobs, jobs
        

In what could finally break the snoozefest that is the state's only competitive House race, Republican challenger Andy Harris has challenged incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil to a series of joint appearances around the district.

Harris, who has been virtually invisible on the campaign trail in recent weeks, also demanded that Kratovil take down an attack ad that goes after the Republican over his support for a 23 percent national sales tax proposal. The TV ad, which began airing a week ago, has been criticized as misleading because it implies that Harris favors increasing the federal tax burden. The ad fails to mention that the plan Harris supports would do away with the existing federal tax system in exchange for imposing a consumption tax.

Kratovil, second-guessed privately by some Maryland Democrats for not smoking out Harris earlier in the year, responded by offering a series of three debates. In a letter that the Eastern Shore congressman's campaign plans to deliver tomorrow, Kratovil compared his counter-proposal to joint appearances in the 2008 campaign that included Harris, Kratovil and a third candidate, Libertarian nominee Richard Davis, who is also running this year.

Kratovil campaign manager Jessica Klonsky said the congressman's camp "assumed" Davis would be included in the 2010 debates.

Multi-candidate debates typically make it more difficult for voters to get a clear picture of the positions of the main contenders in a race; in the case of the First District, it could also be argued that including Davis would help Kratovil and hurt Harris. Most of the votes for the Libertarian would be more likely to go to Harris, rather than Kratovil, if Davis were not on the ballot.

In the 2008 election, Davis' 8,753 votes were more than twice Kratovil's margin of victory, and many Republicans believe that cost Harris a victory.

In a letter dated Friday, September 24, and made public in a press release, Harris said that (i)nstead of running false, negative advertising, I propose we do something productive." He issued the challenge for face-to-face "town hall" meetings on "the fiscal concerns that Marylanders are facing," starting with a session on the Lower Shore.

"Let's talk about fixing Americans' tax burden so we can get our economy moving again and start creating jobs," wrote Harris, a 12-year veteran of the state Senate. "The voters deserve more than a 30 second sound bite to understand where we each stand on taxes and these other issues. Let's give them an opportunity to have their questions answered."

Kratovil's reply said he looked forward to discussing "the merits of your tax plan to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction and increase middle class taxes by up to $6,700 per year," referring to one analysis of the so-called "fair tax" that Harris supports.

"In addition to further discussing your tax plan, these debates will provide an opportunity to share our view on other key issues including the future of the Social Security program, the significant differences in our positions on protecting the Chesapeake Bay and your continued opposition to common sense efforts to rein in risky and abusive behavior by Wall Street," Kratovil wrote.

There was no immediate response from the Harris campaign to the incumbent's counter-proposal.

Posted by Paul West at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

State Republican delegates and candidates for office yesterday signed a Prosperity Pledge for Maryland -- a nod to their national counterparts and the Contract with America of old and new Pledge to America.

House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell of Calvert County reports that more than 40 Republicans signed the document. Republicans are hoping to pick up seats across the state in the November election. Of the 141 seats in the House, 37 are now held by Republicans.

The Prosperity Pledge is built around four pillars, the House Republicans say: "a roll back and repeal of the O’Malley tax increases, bringing jobs back, restoring Maryland’s sovereignty during a time of increasing overreaches by the Federal Government, and making Maryland’s government transparent and accountable to its citizens."

Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley enacted a penny-per-dollar sales tax increase and other taxes in his four years in office; his opponent this fall, Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. also signed into law several tax increases, including a hike of state property tax. You can read about each governor's taxing record here.

House Republicans unveiled their pledge yesterday in Annapolis -- the same day their national counterparts rolled out the Pledge to America, at a hardware store in Virginia.

You can read the entire Maryland pledge at the House Republican Caucus blog.

"This Pledge is a clear message to the citizens of Maryland that they have a choice in this election – that they can avoid the higher and the continuous downward spiral that the Democratic monopoly will lead them to," House Minority Whip Christoper B. Shank said in the caucus release.

Shank, of Washington County, recently defeated longtime Sen. Donald F. Munson in a bitter primary election in which Shank accused Munson of being too cozy with Democrats. Primaries across the state resulted in seats in both chambers that will be less centrist and more ideologically driven. 

Also in the news this morning is the national Pledge to America, described as ideas to improve how Congress works, mainly by requiring lawmakers to cite the constitutional underpinnings of each proposal they make. 

The Washington Post has a nifty graphic showing how frequently certain words appear in the document, compared with the 1994 Contract with America and the Democrats' 2006 A New Direction for America.

Top words in the Pledge to America: "government spending." These pledges are getting wordier, too -- the Contract with America was 869 words, while the Pledge to America clocks in at 7,882, according to The Post.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the man who would succeed Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House if Republicans win majority control in November, is coming to Maryland this weekend to fundraise for Andy Harris.

Harris, the veteran Baltimore County lawmaker challenging Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil in Maryland's First Congressional District (Eastern Shore and parts of Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Harford counties), has gotten plenty of high-level House Republican help already.

Among those who have headlined Harris' fundraising events are Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, the number two Republican in the House, and Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana, who ranks third.

Boehner's visit on Saturday will complete the troika. The event, which has not been announced by the Harris campaign, is invitation-only and closed to the press.

Harris has embraced his party's national tactic of making Nancy Pelosi (rather than the more personally popular Barack Obama) the main target of attack. Having the support of her putative replacement could help reinforce that message of leadership change, though keeping the event private will mute the voter impact.

Posted by Paul West at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Mike Ertel will be the Democratic nominee for Baltimore County Council in District 5, as his closest opponent Bill Paulshock has conceded the primary race after reviewing provisional ballot totals.

“The numbers said we ran a close race, but we ended up a little short,” said Paulshock, who was trailing by about 320 votes when absentee ballots were counted last week. “The numbers are what they are. This race is over.”

Ertel won the race 4,903 votes to Paulshock’s 4,570.

Paulshock said he will “sit back and take a breather” before making a decision about a future career in politics or whether he will endorse Ertel, who will face Republican David Marks in the November general election.

The district includes Towson and Perry Hall. During the campaign, Paulshock fought off residency challenges from Ertel and others who argued his rightful address is outside the district in Kingsville, not Perry Hall. He has owned Bill's Seafood on Belair Road for more than 30 years. He lists the house — which he considers to be his “family home” —that sits on the same site as his business as his official residence.

“There were very negative things that were put out, things that weren’t true. Whenever that happens, the only thing that cures that is time,” Paulshock said. Ertel posted a video on YouTube challenging Paulshock's residency.

Meanwhile in the 4th District, Julian Jones hasn’t conceded defeat to two-term Councilman Kenneth Oliver just yet. He’s planning to do a test recount at the Baltimore County Board of Elections on Friday. Oliver is ahead in the race by 98 votes. Jones has until Sept. 30 to file a recount request. There is no Republican opponent in the general election for the seat, which covers Woodlawn, Randallstown, Owings Mills and Reisterstown.

“We have not given up,” Jones said.

-Raven Hill

Posted by Andy Rosen at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Vice President Joe Biden's press office released the following report this morning. Under VP office rules, one reporter is allowed to attend his fundraising events and write up a report that other members of the White House press corps are free to use.

Here is the lowdown:

Vice President Joe Biden spoke at a fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) Thursday morning at the home of Stewart W. Bainum Jr. and Sandra Bainum in Chevy Chase, Md.

Stewart Bainum is the chairman of the board of Choice Hotels International, based in Silver Spring, and the former head of Manor Care, Inc. He is also a former member of the Maryland state House and state Senate. The Bainums are longtime donors to Democratic candidates, committees and causes.

The event was held in the Bainums’ backyard. Roughly 40 people were in attendance, including Mikulski’s fellow Maryland senator, Benjamin Cardin (D). The breakfast buffet menu included eggs, yogurt, fruit, muffins and bagels.

Mikulski is running for her fifth term, considered the favorite in her race against Queen Anne’s County Commissioner Eric Wargotz (R). Biden and Mikulski served together in the Senate for more than two decades.

Biden began his remarks by saying he had done events for a lot of Democrats, and “[t]here’s not a single one I’m more proud to be associated with” than Mikulski.

“If this were like Fantasy Football” for Democrats, Biden asked, “who would be among the first two or three people you would pick?”

Mikulski would be among the first selected in his draft, Biden confirmed, because “I love her gumption. I love her passion.”

“Name me someone you think would be more tenacious and more effective” in Congress, Biden said.

Biden added that Mikulski is known for her “power” and longtime Senate service, but “the thing that everybody underestimates … is how damn smart she is.”

“Barbara’s the only person who ever calls me ‘Biden,’” he said, drawing laughter. “’Biden, come here.’ So much for this malarkey about [how] I lead her around. No one, I won’t let anyone but my sister call me ‘Biden.’”

Biden then turned to politics and Mikulski’s reelection race.

“There’s an awful lot of talk this year about the demise of the Democratic party. Now I know no one is talking about the demise of Barbara,” Biden said, but added that Republicans are “trying to keep Barbara on defense when she should be on offense.”

Biden said, as he has before, that he was bullish about Democrats’ chances of retaining power.

“I guarantee you we’re going to have a majority in the House and a majority in the Senate. I absolutely believe that,” he said.

Biden said Democrats “have a heck of a record, a heck of a positive record to run on,” but he understood that the economy was still a source of anxiety for voters.

“They’re angry, and they’re angry against whoever is in power …” Biden said. “Maybe the best thing to happen to us lately is the tea party wins. Maybe it’ll shake some of our constituency out of their lethargy.”

Biden referenced an oft-cited quote by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) on “Meet the Press” to make the point that if Republicans win, “They’ll reinstate the exact same agenda.” He also mentioned the House GOP’s unveiling of its legislative agenda Thursday, and said Democrats need to paint “a stark contrast. Ladies and gentlemen, they don’t want to do anything different from what they did before.”

Biden mentioned a recent Gallup poll of the generic ballot that showed Democrats roughly tied with Republicans as evidence that voters were starting to pay attention to the issues and the two parties’ messages.

Turning back to Mikulski, Biden reiterated that attendees should help her win by a wide margin: “We not only need her to win this race, we need her to win more races in this state. … It will matter to the rest of the ticket. … Elect her, reelect her, but don’t do it on the margins -- do it big enough that her coattails are going to have some real impact.”

Biden spoke for just under 21 minutes, and then the pool was escorted out of the backyard.

**********
Ben Pershing
Washington Post

Posted by Paul West at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Former Maryland state Sen. Stewart Bainum Jr. and his wife Sandy, an actress, were the hosts for this morning's fundraising breakfast in the Washington suburbs for Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, featuring Vice President Joe Biden as the lure.

Bainum, chairman of Choice Hotels International, Inc., is a major Democratic donor. His home in upscale Chevy Chase was also the site of an early fund-raising event in Barack Obama's successful presidential campaign.

No word yet on the take for Mikulski, who plans to use the proceeds for get-out-the-vote organizing and advertising. The senator is a heavy favorite to win a fifth six-year term this fall.

"She takes no election for granted. Wargotz is her opponent and she looks forward to rigorously campaigning during the general," an early-rising Mikulski aide said prior to this morning's event.

Posted by Paul West at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Vice President Joe Biden will be in Chevy Chase on Thursday morning to help raise money for Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski's re-election, the vice president's office announced Wednesday night.

No further details were provided about the 8:30 a.m. event. Biden has been travelling the country campaigning and fundraising for Democratic candidates.

Mikulski is one of the most heavily favored Democratic incumbents up for re-election to the Senate this fall. She has millions more in the bank than her Republican challenger, Queen Anne's County Commissioner Eric Wargotz, and a wide lead in published polls.

Biden was in Boston on Wednesday to raise funds for the re-election of Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln, an endangered Democrat thought to have only a slim chance of winning.

In the evening, he played host to approximately 100 guests at the Vice President's mansion in northwest Washington to mark the 16th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act. Among those on hand was Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat and rising star in the Senate. No word if Mikulski, 74, was also there.

Posted by Paul West at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Kevin Kamenetz, the Democratic Baltimore County executive candidate from Owings Mills, picked up some prominent support from the east side of the county Wednesday. His campaign announced that he had secured the backing of several big east side politicians and political clubs.

But -- we've said this before -- Kamenetz is still missing one big piece in the east side Democratic puzzle: his primary opponent Joseph Bartenfelder. Bartenfelder, a county councilman from Fullerton, has so far been silent on his plans for the general election. Kamenetz faces Republican former Del. Ken Holt.

Here's the list of candidates who got behind Kamenetz today, from the campaign: State Senator Norman Stone, Delegates Joseph “Sonny” Minnick, John Olszewski Jr., and Mike Weir Jr, and Council Chair John Olszewski Sr. He also won the support of the Battle Grove Democratic Club, New Seventh Democratic Club, County Seal Democratic Club and the Eastern Baltimore County Democratic Club.

Arthur Hirsch wrote a big story about the importance of geography in Baltimore County elections, and it appears that Kamenetz was just strong enough on the east side to prevent Bartenfelder from erasing his advantages elsewhere.

Interestingly, in that story, a member of the Battle Grove club made a pretty strong statement.

Graham "Butch" Henry, a longtime member of the Battle Grove Democratic Club in Dundalk, was flabbergasted when he heard that his district's councilman, John Olszewski Sr., had endorsed Kamenetz. He would have expected his fellow east-sider to back Bartenfelder, a farmer and former state delegate from Fullerton.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," said Henry. He said Olszewski's decision has scrambled the local political alliance, and "disrupted this whole area, as far as I'm concerned."

Posted by Andy Rosen at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: In The Counties
        

Baltimore County Executive James T Smith Jr. is allowed to continue to use his campaign war chest to transfer cash to candidates for election in November, according to the State Board of Elections, even though the term-limited Smith is not on the ballot.

Steve Bailey, the Republican candidate for Baltimore County State's Attorney, said in a news release that he had asked the elections board to remove Smith, a Democrat, from the “Baltimore County Victory Slate” because he's not running for office this fall. Slates essentially allow the candidates that comprise them to transfer unlimited amounts of money to one another.

The victory slate includes Bailey’s November opponent, incumbent State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger, as well as several County Council and General Assembly candidates. Bailey says donations from Smith were a big help for Shellenberger in his 2006 faceoff with Bailey. Here's a list of the candidates on the victory slate.

Smith had about $967,000 cash on hand, according to a report filed early this month, but isn't running for anything. But because Smith has an active campaign committee, he remains a candidate, according to elections officials; it doesn't matter if he's on the ballot this cycle.

“A candidate is free to choose to run for a Baltimore City, county or state office with the same authorized candidate campaign committee,” Jared DeMarinis, candidacy and campaign finance director for the elections board, wrote in a letter to Bailey. “If the term 'candidate’ was limited to filed individuals appearing on the ballot, then no candidate would be permitted to fundraise or make expenditures except after filing a certificate of candidacy.”

Bailey was not satisfied with the explanation, and said in the release that he asked Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler’s office to review the reasoning. However, a spokeswoman said the office would only weigh in if asked for advice by the elections board — which as a state agency is the attorney general’s client. Bailey could not be reached for comment.

His news release quotes attorney Jonathon Shurberg, who says, “The Board of Elections position to allow Jim Smith to participate in a slate, without filing a certificate of candidacy for public office, flies in the face of the plain language of the law. The Board of Elections interpretation creates a loophole that allows any individual, not just candidates, to circumvent the limits on campaign contributions.”

If Smith wasn't on the slate, he'd be limited to $6,000 for this election in contributions from his account to other candidates he supports.

Posted by Andy Rosen at 2:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Campaign finance, In The Counties
        

With midterm elections looming, and control of Congress up for grabs, attention is rightly focused on the men and women running for the House and Senate (and governorships, too).

That has allowed embattled Republican National Chairman Michael Steele to largely slip below radar. Last we looked, he'd left town on a posh (red, naturally) tour bus with "Fire Pelosi" painted on the side.

Meantime, Republican insiders who never warmed to Maryland's former lieutenant governor as party leader continue to sharpen their knives. They've been dejectedly tracking disappointing fundraising numbers coming out of the RNC and plotting Steele's ouster when his current term ends in January.

The latest monthly figures show the Democratic National Committee pulled in more than twice as much money as the Rs ($16.17 million to $7.95 million) during August. Yes, the Dems have an incumbent president to attract cash, and new Republican funding channels have sprung up, allowing disaffected donors to bypass the RNC.

Still, Steele has managed to aggravate the situation. He's pumped national money into local efforts that his critics see, in part, as a campaign to boost his re-election as chairman. Jeff Zeleny has a piece in the New York Times on the impact of the RNC strategy.

Steele didn't help himself by slipping away recently to the South Pacific to attend to his RNC base (RNC members from the island territories are generally thought to have provided the crucial margin in his upset victory in last year's chairman's race).

Weak fundraising numbers, staff turmoil at Republican headquarters in Washington and a stream of self-inflicted verbal blunders have weakened Steele's grip on his job. That he could still get another two year stint, and the honor of presiding over the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa, is largely a reflection of the peculiar dynamics of internal party politics, rather than a mature verdict on his performance.

It's also why the results of the Nov. 2 election are so crucial to Steele. They're his last hope for keeping his job.

His future as a party leader is merely a sideshow, but if Republicans were to fall short and Democrats somehow managed to retain control of Congress, it would likely mark the end of Steele's career in national politics.

Posted by Paul West at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Michael Steele
        

A proposed State Department security training center, planned for Maryland's Eastern Shore until local residents objected, may wind up in Pennsylvania instead.

Gina Gilliam, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration, the federal government's real estate arm, confirmed that officials from Washington were in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., recently to meet with a local congressman about the proposed facility.

Rep. Paul Kanjorski toured a site in his district with members of the State Department and GSA team overseeing the long-sought project. Afterward, he met with local business leaders about the project and held a news conference.

His message: that the proposed facility to train diplomats in anti-terrorist tactics could bring hundreds of jobs to his eastern Pennsylvania district. That theme was Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski's reaction after the announcement, in November, 2009, that the tiny crossroads town of Ruthsburg, in Queen Anne's County, had been chosen as the preferred site.

"The training facility is good news for three reasons: jobs, jobs and more jobs for Maryland," she said at the time. But after months of debate, including public hearings at which residents aired their worries about noise, traffic congestion and possible environmental damage, it became clear that quality of life issues were more important to Shore residents than jobs. Last June, the feds folded their hand and started over.

Gilliam, the GSA spokeswoman, said no announcement has been scheduled about a new site choice, and Kanjorski told reporters that other locations were under consideration. Gilliam did confirm that some $70 million in federal stimulus funds earmarked for the project would have to be obligated soon or the money would go back to the Treasury unspent.

The Pennsylvania site is on several thousand acres of former coal land owned by the Earth Conservancy in Luzerne County. It is located on the opposite bank of the Susquehanna River from the town of Shickshinny (pop. 896).

In an echo of the Eastern Shore fight, questions are already being raised about the presence of threatened and endangered species at the Pennsylvania location. The site is more than 200 miles from Washington, beyond the outside limit--150 miles from the U.S. Capitol--set by the federal government in its original specs.

Local media coverage of the proposal has noted that Kanjorski, an endangered incumbent, has a history of announcing projects that failed to materialized. He has admitted that the development is not a "done deal." And his Republican opponent has raised questions about the idea, including the same noise factor--from exploding bombs and gunfire--that helped turn Marylanders off.

It is unclear whether any Maryland sites remain under active consideration for the project. However, no potential locations have been publicized, other than one in Pennsylvania, giving the latest reports the look of a trial balloon, something the feds failed to float in their first, ham-fisted effort to get the project built.

Posted by Paul West at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Washington
        

The television commercials continue coming -- with the Democratic Governors Association today unveiling an ad attacking Republican Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.'s record as governor. The outpourings show that the national Dems feel they need to spend money to defend a seat.

The announcement about new ads comes 24 hours after the Republican Governors Association bought time in Maryland to attack Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley. Both Ehrlich and O'Malley have also started airing new, positive commercials in the past several days and appear to be leaving the negative television to the national parties -- at least for now.

DGA political director Raymond Glendening pledged that his organization will "spend the money that needs to be spent" to ensure O'Malley is re-elected. Glendening, whose father Parris was governor immediately before Ehrlich, said the organization has long planned to put funds behind O'Malley and will also invest in about a dozen other close races.

He said that about half of the 37 gubernatorial contests this year are competitive, but the party will also likely put up fights in Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and Massachusetts among others.

The DGA, headed by Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (O'Malley is the vice chair), raised $22 million as of July. They plan to spend $50 million this cycle, according to a spokeswoman.

The ad will play in Baltimore and DC markets and picks at Ehrlich's record saying that he was beholden to corporate interests when governor. (See the script and ad itself after the jump.)

The ad says:

Four 
years 
ago, 
Bob 
Ehrlich 
got 
fired 
as 
Governor
 of
 Maryland. 

For
 good
 reason.
First, 
he 
protected 
tax 
loopholes 
for 
giant 
cable 
companies...
 

Then,
 he
 let 
utilities 
jack 
up 
our 
rates 
72%.

And
 for 
the 
last 
four 
years, 
he 
worked 
as 
a 
hired 
gun 
for 
big
 corporations, 
even 
a 
bank
 that 
took 
billions 
from 
a 
taxpayer
 funded
 bailout.

Ehrlich 
sides 
with 
corporate 
executives 
again 
and 
again 
and
 again.


Tell
 Bob 
Ehrlich: 
Big 
banks 
and 
billionaires 
don’t 
need 
help.
 Middle
class 
Marylanders 
do.


 



Posted by Annie Linskey at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (38)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Natasha Pettigrew, the Green Party candidate aiming to unseat U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski this fall, died last night from injuries she sustained in a traffic accident in Prince George's County. The 30-year-old had been bicycling early Sunday when a sports utility vehicle struck her on southbound Route 202.

“As a party, we have never experienced a loss like this,” Brian Bittner, co-chairman of the Maryland Green Party, said in a release today.

Pettigrew was born in Maryland and has been attending the University of Miami, Bittner said, adding that her intention was to return to her home state after school. Pettigrew became interested in politics because her family had endured financial hardships -- foreclosure, student debt -- and she felt that public officials could have done more to help them, Bittner said.

She filed her candidacy for Senate to celebrate her 30th brithday, he said.

The accident occurred about 5:30 Sunday morning, said Greg Shipley, spokesman for the Maryland State Police.

Pettigrew was riding her bike southbound along Route 202, just south of Campus Way in Largo, when a 2005 Cadillac Escalade, also headed south, struck her, Shipley said.

The SUV did not stop. A severely injured Pettigrew was taken to Prince George's Hospital Center. While police were at the scene of the accident, the SUV driver, Christy R. Littleford, 41, of Upper Marlboro, called the Prince George's County Police to report that she had struck something.

Littleford told police she assumed she'd hit an animal but when she arrived home found a bicycle lodged under her vehicle, Shipley said.

Pettigrew died last night at the hospital. State Police are investigating and will forward their reports to the Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office to review whether charges should be filed.

The Green Party said funeral arrangements have not been finalized but that Pettigrew's mother, Kenniss Henry, plans to hold a memorial vigil this week.

As for the Senate race, election rules allow the Green Party to name a candidate to replace Pettigrew on the Nov. 2 ballot. The state party sais its coordinating council will make a decision on a possible replacement by early next week.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)
        

The Republican Governors Association has put its own spin on Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley's campaign theme of "moving Maryland forward." In a television advertisement out today, the RGA proclaims O'Malley is "moving Maryland backward."

The well-off organization is lending a hand to former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican trying to win back the governor's office this fall. In addition to the 30-second spot, the RGA has created a web site titled "Martin's Mess." As we reported this morning on this blog, the spot is a sign that the RGA believes Ehrlich can win the race.

As of late August campaign finance reports, O'Malley had about three times as much money in the bank as Ehrlich. The RGA ad comes as O'Malley launches one in the pricey Washington TV market. O'Malley's spot focuses on education -- a striking change from two attack ads he recently aired in the Baltimore market.

We "truth squad" the RGA ad below the virtual fold, where you can also view the spot itself.

Ad claim: "Unemployment has doubled."

Fact: Maryland's unemployment rate was 3.6 percent in January 2007, when O'Malley took office. Last month, according to numbers out today, it was 7.3 percent. Both numbers are seasonally adjusted.

Ad claim: "More than 3,000 Maryland businesses have closed or moved to other states."

Fact: Each year, thousands of businesses register for unemployment insurance, and thousands more close their accounts. Maryland ended 2009 with a net of 2,900 fewer such accounts than it had at the end of 2008, according to the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

The Sun reported this number as a net loss of businesses in front-page articles in January and July. Today, for the first time, the agency is disputing the number as "not a valid way of looking at businesses starting up or closing down," DLLR spokesman Bernie Kohn said.

Kohn explains that very small businesses, such as mom-and-pop shops with no other employees, don't have to open unemployment insurance accounts. However, families who employ nannies or other household help do have to register. So when a family no longer employs a nanny, it closes the unemployment insurance account -- not exactly a "business closing," Kohn said. Also, Kohn said, DLLR purged more inactive accounts from its unemployment rolls last year than it had in the past, perhaps explaining away part of the 2,900 number.

Ad claim: "O’Malley passed the largest tax increase in history .. A 20 percent sales tax hike ... Job-killing taxes on business."

Fact: The Sun has examined in detail the taxing records of O'Malley and Ehrlich. Both raised taxes. You can read that story here.

O'Malley has not disputed the "largest tax increase claim," a refrain repeated nearly daily by Ehrlich on the campaign trail. O'Malley signed into law a penny-per-dollar sales tax increase, raising it to 6 cents on the dollar -- a 20 percent hike. The "job-killing" bit is subjective. Supporters of the governor, as well as some economists, like to point out that businesses consider many things apart from taxes -- education, work force, quality of life -- when deciding to locate or expand in Maryland.

Ad claim: "And now O’Malley says he’s open to raising taxes again."

Fact: O'Malley has said that he does not intend to raise taxes if elected to a second term.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Political ads
        

Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, the Democratic nominee for Baltimore County Executive, got the endorsement of a group of Democratic county legal officials, as he continues to try to rally his party around him after his primary defeat of fellow Councilman Joe Bartenfelder.

The so-called "Courthouse Team" includes State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger, Register of Wills Grace Connolly, Orphans Court Judges Colleen Cavanaugh, Bill Evans, and Theresa Lawler, and Sheriff Jay Fisher.

In a statement, Connolly cited Kamenetz’ ability to work well with others; Kamenetz sometimes comes off as brash, and the campaign is apparently looking to show him as more personable.

“I’ve known Kevin for over 30 years, and he’s the most qualified person for this job,” Connolly said.

Still no word on the big fish in the endorsement pond. Joe Bartenfelder still hasn't responded to questions about whether he will get behind Kamenetz, who defeated him in what was a pretty intense campaign.

Kamenetz is facing former delegate and finance executive Ken Holt in November's general election.

Posted by Andy Rosen at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: In The Counties
        

Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley has fired more shots in this election’s ad war – a contest he’s handily winning when it comes to volume. The Washington Post reported this morning that O’Malley tomorrow will begin airing a television ad in the pricey Washington TV market.

The ad, which hasn’t been released, touts O'Malley's commitment to education, The Post says. It sounds as if it will be a striking contrast to spots his campaign has recently aired in the Baltimore market, including one out Friday, that attack Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. on his credibility.

O’Malley has been using TV ads to communicate with voters for about two months, cutting more than a half-dozen different spots. By contrast, Ehrlich has had his ads up – two now – for just two weeks in the Baltimore market only.

Baltimore TV viewers are treated to far more Maryland political ads than DC area residents, mostly because of the price difference. And in addition to being more expensive, the ads reach non-voters in DC and Virginia, whereas the Baltimore ads stretch far and wide across Maryland voting blocs.

O’Malley’s newest ad in the Baltimore market came out Friday.

Similar in tone and production to another recent O’Malley spot, it questions Ehrlich’s credibility when it comes to halting taxes and helping working families. That’s an issue of utmost importance to voters this year -- and one where the O’Malley camp likely feels vulnerable in part because of a package of taxes he approved after a special legislative session in 2007.

The new ad features "real Marylanders" talking about how Ehrlich raised property tax, increased college tuition and made $2.5 million in the private sector after his term as governor. It concludes with a man saying, "With this tough economy, we really need a governor on our side."

(The Sun examined each governor’s tax and spend record earlier this year in this piece by Annie Linskey.)

Ehrlich responded Friday in a press release titled “Got Ideas?”

“Martin O’Malley is out of ideas, out of touch, and out of momentum," Ehrlich spokesman Henry Fawell said in the release. "Like most incumbents heading towards defeat at the polls, he is trying to distract Marylanders from his legacy of massive job losses, record tax increases, and ballooning debt that will be paid by our children."

Team Ehrlich also pointed out that O’Malley’s attack ad came out as Ehrlich released a “ten-year plan” -- highlighted in a TV ad -- for improving the state. Camp O'Malley was not impressed with that ad or its companion document.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
        

Eric Wargotz, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Barbara A. Mikulski, has lined up his campaign team for the general election.

The campaign director and general consultant is Bo Harmon. Bo knows Maryland, having managed Bob Ehrlich's 2006 re-election campaign for governor.

The day-to-day manager will be Demetrios Karoutsos, who recently ran conservative businessman Rob Fisher's Republican primary effort in Maryland's first congressional district.

Harmon's firm, Response America of Alexandria, Va., says on its website that it specializes in fundraising and voter contact direct marketing for Republican candidates and right-of-center, nonprofit organizations. Its impressive current client list includes the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the National Republican Congressional Committee, as well as Ohio Rep. John Boehner, who would become House speaker if Republicans gain control of the chamber in the 2010 midterm elections, and Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio, a tea party favorite.

The Republican strategist, who was voter contact director of John McCain's '08 presidential campaign, signed up last year with the political action committee of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a likely 2012 Republican presidential contender.

A formal announcement of the Wargotz campaign brain trust is expected early in the week. The Queen Anne's County commissioner, making his first statewide run, finished first in last week's 11-way Republican Senate primary.

Posted by Paul West at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

The office of state Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said Friday it would work “expeditiously” to provide legal guidance to state regulators inquiring into allegations that Penn National Gaming inappropriately interfered with another company’s plans for a slots casino in Anne Arundel County.

Penn National has approval to open the state’s first slots parlor later this month in Cecil County, but says it might wait for the results of the inquiry before it cuts any ribbons. Penn National co-owns the Maryland Jockey Club, which has financed a campaign against Cordish’s proposed project, in hopes of steering Anne Arundel’s sole slots license to Laurel race track.

“We understand there’s an urgency to this decision so we will try to accommodate it,” said Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for the attorney general.

The request, from Stephen L. Martino, director of the Maryland Lottery, asks the attorney general to issue a ruling on whether Penn National’s actions violate the RFP, and if so, can the lottery commission take action, said Guillory.

Representatives for Penn National have said the inquiry could delay the planned Sept. 30 opening of its 1,500-slots parlor in Perryville, saying they wanted to await the opinion before moving forward, but declined Friday to offer specifics about the timeline of the casino’s opening.

"We're still assessing all of our options," said Karen M. Bailey, a spokeswoman for Penn National.

The state Lottery Commission voted at its Thursday meeting to request an opinion from the attorney general following Baltimore-based Cordish Cos. claims that Penn National’s involvement in a campaign to prevent slots at Arundel Mills mall violates Penn National’s contract with the state.

The commission also approved a conditional license for Penn National to open its casino. A Penn National executive requested that the commission forgo issuing the license until the allegations were settled, but the commission declined.

Anne Arundel voters will decide whether the project slots at Arundel Mills go forward when they vote on a ballot referendum in November.

-Nicole Fuller

Posted by Andy Rosen at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: In The Counties, Slots
        

Democrat Mike Ertel is declaring victory in the Democratic primary in District 5 for the Baltimore County Council. He still leads his closest opponent, Bill Paulshock, by a small but substantial margin, but Paulshock hasn't conceded. He wants to see overseas and provisional ballots first, he told Raven Hill today.

The latest results show Ertel ahead by 321 votes with all absentee ballots counted. There did not appear to be enough provisional votes to swing the outcome, but Paulshock still has the option to request a recount (though depending on the margin, he may have to pay for it).

Ertel's ready to move on and face Republican David Marks.

"I'd like to thank Bill Paulshock and Gordon Harden for their efforts and their [genuine] concern about the issues affecting the 5th district.," Ertel wrote in a letter to supporters "It was a tough race, but I look forward to unifying the district and moving forward together."

Posted by Andy Rosen at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: In The Counties, Primaries 2010
        

Conservative businessman Rob Fisher has endorsed Republican state Sen. Andy Harris in the First District congressional contest.

Fisher, a first-time candidate, ran a largely self-financed outsider campaign against Harris, a 12-year veteran of the Maryland legislature. Harris won by a two-to-one margin.

“Now that the Republican primary is over, we need to unify behind our nominee, Andy Harris,” said Rob Fisher, according to a statement from the Harris campaign.

“Andy has my full support and I will do anything I can to get him elected and to ensure Frank Kratovil joins the ranks of the thousands of unemployed Marylanders his and Nancy Pelosi's policies have created."

Fisher called Harris shortly before 11 o'clock on election night to concede. He was the only other Republican on the primary ballot in the congressional district that takes in the entire Eastern Shore and portions of Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford counties.

Freshman Rep. Frank Kratovil, who edged Harris in the 2008 general election, was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

After Harris unseated moderate Republican Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, the defeated incumbent helped Democrat Kratovil get elected. Last week, Gilchrest--who endorsed Fisher over Harris in the primary--was the draw at a fund-raising event for Kratovil and can be expected to endorse him publicly again this fall.

Posted by Paul West at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

The first, but surely not last, attack ad of the rematch between Rep. Frank Kratovil and Republican challenger Andy Harris for a U.S. House seat in Maryland has hit the airwaves in the Baltimore and Eastern Shore markets.

The negative spot goes after Harris for his support of the so-called "fair tax," a plan to replace the existing federal income tax system with a 23 percent national sales tax.

Democrat Kratovil's 30-second commercial calls the tax plan "unfair" and unaffordable. It features a series of unidentified men and women saying that a 23 percent sales tax would be "devastating," ruinous to business and would make purchasing goods "unaffordable."

"We can't afford Andy Harris' idea," says one man.

Similar attack ads by Democrats in other states have been criticized as "misleading" by independent arbiters like the nonpartisan Annenberg Public Policy Center's factcheck.org.

The ad does not mention, for example, that the "fair tax" would effectively remove the existing federal tax system, including all payroll taxes. It would also eliminate such popular tax breaks as the deduction for mortgage interest. "Fair tax" critics call it a regressive plan that would benefit wealthier Americans and hurt the poor; it is regularly introduced in Congress and has gone nowhere under both Republican and Democratic majorities.

Harris' campaign termed the ad "a desperate attack" and wondered why Kratovil, "who says he is ahead in the polls" would run "such a false, negative campaign." The poll reference is to an internal Kratovil survey, made public this week, which said he was leading Harris by six percentage points among likely voters; the survey was taken after Kratovil had been on the air in the district for two weeks and before Harris began his post-primary ad buy.

Posted by Paul West at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

the Metropolitan Baltimore Council AFL-CIO has shifted its support to Democratic Baltimore County executive candidate Kevin Kamenetz, just days after he won a bruising primary contest against Joseph Bartenfelder, the large union's first choice for the top local government post.

Bartenfelder and his advisers haven't said whether the departing councilman will endorse Kamenetz, also a member of the County Council since 1994. The two colleagues went through a hard-fought campaign, and some Bartenfelder advisers cited negative campaigning as a concern.

Kamenetz faces Republican former delegate and finance executive Ken Holt in November's general election.

The AFL-CIO was quick to shift its support. In a release, Ernie Grecco, President of the Metropolitan Baltimore Council, said, “We look forward to having a dialogue with Kevin and working to get him elected the next County Executive and making Baltimore County not only a great place to live but also a great place to work.”

The union represents thousands of workers, and is made up of locals including the Baltimore County Professional Firefighters Association, Baltimore County Federation of Public Employees, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the Baltimore Building and Construction Trades Council, Maryland State United Auto Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers, Plumbers and Steamfitters, and the Laborers International Union of North America.

The firefighters union had been specifically vocal in its support of Bartenfelder.

Posted by Andy Rosen at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: In The Counties, Primaries 2010
        

Ehrlich’s plan includes: 

- A set of administrative changes to the state’s departments of labor and the department of business and economic development that Ehrlich believes would make the bureaucracies more business-friendly; 

- Re-states promise to cut sales tax, eliminate income tax on military pensions; and says he would “explore” how to reduce the corporate income tax; 

- Change state budget process so yearly cuts to programs become the new baseline for the following year – this would eliminate some of what has become annual angst over budget cuts; 

- Eliminate furloughs for state workers; 

- Provide incentives to build a third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs; prevent Bay Restoration funds from being transferred to close budget holes 

- Abandon the proposed rapid transit lines in Baltimore and the Washington suburbs in favor of rapid buses 

- "Work with legislators" to reduce medical malpractice insurance

The plan also includes the creation of several commissions: 

-A bipartisan group will examine the pension problems;

another task force would look at so-called “mandated spending”; 

- another to examine transportation issues; - another – to be headed by Lt. Gov. Mary Kane - would study link between drug use and crime; 

- a study on whether purchasing health insurance across state lines would reduce costs

Posted by Annie Linskey at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

State Sen. Ulysses Currie pleaded not guilty to corruption charges this morning in a federal courtroom in Baltimore -- his first court appearance since being indicted this month.

Currie, the 73-year-old Prince George's County Democrat who chaired the powerful Senate budget committee until the charges were filed, is now represented by two federal public defenders. After the brief hearing, Currie was released on his own recognizance, meaning he did not have to post bail.

Currie was indicted on 17 counts including bribery and mail fraud in an alleged influence-peddling scheme involving Shoppers Food Warehouse, a supermarket chain based in his district.

Federal prosecutors say Shoppers paid Currie about $250,000 between 2003 and 2008 to "use his official position ... in ways that would benefit [Shoppers] and certain of its officers and employees."

Earlier this week, the parent company of Shoppers entered a deal to pay a $2.5 million fine and cooperate with prosecutors in lieu of facing charges.

Former Shoppers President William White is due in court this afternoon for an initial appearance; earlier, former Shoppers Vice President R. Kevin Small pleaded not guilty.

No trial dates have been set, but U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett said this week that he'd like Currie's trial to take place in June.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Crime & Justice
        

Peter Hermann over at Baltimore Crime Beat reports that Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy will concede her race this afternoon to her primary opponent Gregg Bernstein, according to a source with direct knowledge of her plans. Jessamy has scheduled a news conference for 1 p.m. at her campaign headquarters.

Up until this morning, it appeared that Jessamy was getting ready to challenge the voting process even as absentee ballots are being counted. Thursday night, the elections board had counted about 75 percent of those votes.

Bernstein was ahead by 1,363 votes, with more than 2,000 ballots still to be counted.

Jessamy's spokeswoman had alleged that thousands of votes might be missing and her legal team appeared to be gearing up for a challenge. We'll what happens in 90 minutes.

Posted by Andy Rosen at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010, Primaries 2010
        

Now that the primary election is behind them, the two candidates for governor seem to be returning to their comfort zones: Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley revived his 2006 "kitchen table talks" yesterday with a stop in Catonsville. And later in the afternoon, Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. made a brief speech at his longtime barber's shop in Dundalk.

O'Malley and Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr., a Democrat and vocal O'Malley supporter, nestled around the kitchen table of Frances Callahan. They were joined by five other Baltimore County moms for a chat about school construction, green building and other issues.

The moms lavished O'Malley with praise for his vision. Several told him they were happy he was able to take the long view -- by requiring tougher building standards, for example -- even during a bad economy.

"We've had to cut and cut and cut and cut again, but we're making progress," O'Malley said. "We're protecting our priorities."

One mom treaded into sensitive territory by telling the governor that her 7-year-old child didn't understand why his two mommies can't get married. She asked O'Malley how he feels about gay marriage.

O'Malley stuck to his view that civil unions are a better option for Maryland than same-sex marriage, though he said he'd sign either legislative change into law. He said the state should focus on providing equality to same-sex couples, reminding the mom that he'd helped give gay partners hospital visitation rights.

The mom didn't press the marriage issue. (Some gay rights groups have called for O'Malley to vocally support gay marriage, not just civil unions.)

O'Malley and Smith repeatedly referenced the importance of the kitchen table during the hourlong talk. O'Malley told the moms that he'd decided to hold kitchen table talks because that's where important family decisions are made.

He said he pictures such family discussions whenever making a decision about how to govern the state. During the 2006 talks, he said, he promoted the importance of halting years of steep college tuition rises, which he did until approving a slight increase this year, and stepping up public school construction and renovation -- another point of pride in his administration.

Later, Ehrlich spoke at Bobby Magee's barber shop in Dundalk, saying that salon services are among the now-untaxed items that could be subjected to a sales tax if Democrats get their way.

Longtime Ehrlich followers are no doubt familiar with Magee. His barber shop is papered with photos of Ehrlich (often pictured while getting a haircut) and another lawmaking fan, Del. John S. Arnick, a Democrat who represented the area for many years. He died in 2006.

Ehrlich called the shop "another branch of my world." Ater the television cameras and supporters dissipated, Ehrlich got a haircut.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

The Cordish-Cos.-backed group, “Jobs & Revenue for Anne Arundel County” released its second television advertisement Thursday, in its media blitz for passage of a slots referendum on its slots parlor at Arundel Mills mall on the November ballot.

The ad hits on the theme that Cordish has promoted -- that Laurel Park, whose owners are helping finance the opposition to the project, is not a viable alternative to the Arundel Mills plan. Project opponents are largely fighting based on opposition to the location at a mall. The ad shows a footprint of the building, separate from the mall.

Check out Nicole Fuller's story on how the continuing battle over Arundel Mills could delay the state's planned first slots parlor in Perryville.

Posted by Andy Rosen at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: In The Counties, Slots
        

For all the talk of an energized electorate, and even with the new opportunity to vote early, turnout in Tuesday’s primaries was the lowest in for a gubernatorial election year in Maryland going back at least to 1982, the earliest year for which records were available.

Of Maryland’s 3,167,846 eligible voters, 761,413 cast ballots in the primaries, for a turnout of 24.04 percent, according to unofficial counts released Thursday by the State Board of Elections. The numbers do not yet include provisional or absentee ballots, but judging from previous elections, these are unlikely to be enough to push the total over the state’s previous low of 28.64 percent in in 1998.

This year, 2.44 percent of the electorate took advantage of early voting, offered for six days at central locations in each county; 21.6 percent voted on Tuesday, the traditional primary day, when local polling places were open.

In spite of a competitive Democratic primary for state's attorney, Baltimore saw a lower-than-average turnout of 21.49 percent. Baltimore County, venue for a comeptitive race for county executive, had a turnout of 29.45 percent.

Two of Maryland's least populous counties, meanwhile, distinguished themselves in electoral enthusiasm: Garrett County led the state with 39.59 percent turnout, including 35.09 percent on Tuesday. Talbot county led in early voting participation with 6.78 percent.

Statewide turnout in 2006, the last gubernatorial election, was 29.6 percent. That might have been driven in part by a competitive Democratic primary race between Benjamin L. Cardin and Kweisi Mfume for the open Senate seat vacated that year by retiring Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Early voting, Primaries 2010
        

Maryland’s Democrats are trying to pick at what they perceive to be a wound among Maryland Republicans: Hard feelings after the primary victory this week of former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. over Sarah Palin-endorsed and tea party-backed challenger Brian Murphy.

This morning the Dems emailed a transcript from a radio appearance during which conservative commentator Blair Lee urged Ehrlich to reach out to Brian Murphy.

"You need to publicly embrace this guy, you need to call him a rising star in the party, you need to borrow his rolodex, and you need to get all of his voters to vote for you," Lee advised.

Ehrlich reponded with a backhanded slight. "Well, Blair, I respect him, but quite frankly we have a lot of rising stars in our party, including people who have won races."

Four years ago Ehrlich had no primary opponent; four years before that, he had a far better showing in the primary -- taking 93 percent of the vote against two unknown candidates.

On Wednesday at a GOP rally in Annapolis, Murphy showed up, but was on the far right of a sea of Republicans – standing nowhere close to Ehrlich and looking mighty uncomfortable. Ehrlich did not mention his foe by name. Instead he made broad comments about the difficulty all candidate face when they put their egos “on the line” an run for office.

Murphy did get a handshake from GOP Party chairwoman Audrey Scott and, when asked what he plans to do for Ehrlich’s campaign, he repeatedly mentioned that he has a “young family.”

Ehrlich was asked why he didn’t give a shout-out to his former opponent. “If I started mentioning one, I’d get in trouble,” he said.

Posted by Annie Linskey at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

Baltimore State’s Attorney hopeful Gregg Bernstein maintained his lead over incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy, according to a full count of the votes cast in city polling places.

Numbers released this afternoon from the Baltimore Board of Elections show that Bernstein won 49 percent of the primary votes cast at polling places to Jessamy’s 47 percent — with just 1,295 votes separating them. (A third democratic candidate received about 2,000 votes).

That means Jessamy needs to make up the difference in absentee ballots, which will be counted starting Thursday morning, or Baltimore has a new state’s attorney.

The count: Bernstein: 30392 Jessamy: 29097 Sheryl A. Lansey: 2252

--Tricia Bishop

Posted by Anica Butler at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Primaries 2010
        

As many as 10,000 of Baltimore’s primary votes could still be missing, according to Patricia Jessamy’s state’s attorney campaign staff, who told her that memory cards from 27 machines in six districts were unaccounted for.

If accurate, it could leave room for the election to sway back toward Jessamy, the incumbent, who’s narrowly trailing challenger Gregg Bernstein.

But city Board of Elections Director Armstead B.C. Jones Sr. said the figures sounded high to him, and that none of it would matter by the end of the day.

“We are going to get to 100 percent” of the votes cast at polling places, he said. Jones did not know how many votes were left to be counted, or when the results could be expected, but he said the office usually shuts down around 4:30 p.m.

Both Jessamy and challenger Bernstein, who was leading the race by 1,400 votes at last tally, according to the Associated Press, are refusing to speak until the numbers are in. That could mean days if they wait for the results of more than 2,000 absentee ballots, which will be counted starting Thursday.

Jessamy, who’s held the top prosecutor position for 15 years, sent an e-mail to her staff Wednesday thanking them for their hard work and professionalism and urging them to stay strong and committed, whatever the outcome.

These are the districts with missing memory cards representing between 6,000 and 10,000 votes, according to Jessamy’s camp: 40th (three cards); 41st (five); 43rd (three); 44th (four); 45th (eight) and the 46th (four).

— Tricia Bishop

Posted by Anica Butler at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Primaries 2010
        

As posted here earlier, Maryland's entire congressional delegation is virtually assured of re-election this fall, with the sole exception of Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil, who is fighting hard to keep his seat.

You can be certain, though, that the state's pols in Washington--all highly competitive, Type A individuals--are closely sifting the primary returns anyway. They're looking for signs: How pleased--or not--are their party's voters are with the job they're doing?

Here's a quick look at those who probably are feeling pretty good today..and a couple who might not be.

Interestingly, the "winners" include the most established and powerful Marylanders in Congress, plus a couple up-and-comers. That's not what you might expect to see in a year variously described as anti-establishment or anti-incumbent.

1. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. One of the safest Democratic Senate re-election bets in the country got 82 percent of the statewide primary vote against a half-dozen non-entities (all the figures here are from almost complete election returns). That's down from her 90 percent primary tally last time out; but that was 2004, a presidential primary with a much larger turnout. In her last mid-term primary run, in 1998, she pulled 84 percent.

2. House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer. The leadership job of the second-ranking member of the House is in serious jeopardy; Hoyer would be demoted automatically if Republicans take control of the House. But he looks stronger than ever with Democrats in his southern Maryland district, an indication that he hasn't neglected his home base while traveling the country to help fellow Democrats. He received 85 percent of the primary vote, up from 83 percent in the last two elections.

3. Rep. Chris Van Hollen. The Montgomery County congressman also has national duties, and mind-bending headaches, as chairman of the House Democrats' campaign arm. But back in his liberal suburban district, he got 93 percent from party voters, up from 88 percent last time and 91 percent in the 2006 midterm.

4. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings. The Baltimore representative was unopposed in the last midterm election and drew 93 percent in 2008. He received 91 percent on Tuesday; that's no worse than an "A-minus" on anyone's report card.

5. Rep. Donna Edwards. The delegation's most liberal member used the last two primaries to dispatch an entrenched Democratic incumbent, Al Wynn, to his new career as a D.C. lobbyist. This time, she scared away Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey, who ultimately ducked the race, then brushed off a state delegate, Herman Taylor, to win an impressive 83 percent of the primary vote and cement her hold on the seat.

Go to the jump for a couple of Marylanders who might not have liked what they saw in the results.

1. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett. The state's lone Republican congressman, at least for now, is in no danger of losing his seat. But the 84-year-old incumbent apparently had his worst primary night since 1992, the year he was first elected to Congress.

Again, it's all relative. Bartlett drew a shade under 70 percent of the vote. He batted close to 80 percent in his last two runs, and his previous low as an incumbent was 70.3 percent in 2004.

Bartlett's year has been marred by a fire at his farm outside Frederick, which put a number of tenants on the street and exposed potentially unsafe conditions. He may have been hurt, too, by the political problems of his son, state Del. Joseph Bartlett, who abandoned his re-election try this summer after it was revealed that he used taxpayer funds to pay rent to his girlfriend's Annapolis house.

2. Rep. C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger. Somebody had to be the Democrat with the lowest share of the vote in the congressional primary, and the former Baltimore County exec was it. Ruppersberger received 74 percent, not a particularly bad showing but a personal worst for Dutch as an incumbent. He received 82 percent in the 2006 primary; in 2004 and 2008, he had no primary opposition at all.

Like every member of the Maryland delegation, he will be closely watching the results of this fall's governor's race. If Republican Bob Ehrlich is elected, several Democratic incumbents could see their districts become much more competitive in 2012, including Ruppersberger, who was elected to Congress in 2002 in a district deliberately drawn for him.

Posted by Paul West at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

While the primary dust-ups in the Senate continue to sort themselves out, let's take a look at the changes in the larger chamber.

It appears that incumbents will prevail in all but about a half-dozen of the 141 seats, at least until Nov. 2. More survived primaries this year than the incumbents of four years ago -- a feat that House Speaker Michael E. Busch called fairly remarkable, given the number of competitive Senate primary races.

Just two sitting Democrats lost last night, compared with eight in 2006. New names in the House include Keiffer Mitchell, Mary Washington and Luke Clippinger of Baltimore (the latter two are filling open seats).

Baltimore's Ruth Kirk fell to Mitchell, a popular former City Council member who ran for mayor. Busch said House leadership knew that one of the three incumbent Democrats in that district, 44, would have a "tough" time against Mitchell.

In another intra-party hit, B. Daniel Riley, who represents Cecil and Harford counties, was taken out by Marla Posey-Moss, a high school Spanish teacher. Democrats Posey-Moss and Mary Dulaney-James face two Republican challengers in the two-seat District 34A general election.

"We were surpised Dan Riley lost," Busch said. "We thought he'd have a tough general election. We weren't looking at the primary.

As for Republican incumbents in the House, three appeared to be in trouble, including two who had represented their districts for 15 years: Nancy Stocksdale of Carroll County and Paul Stull of Frederick County. Also appearing in the loss column is Del. Richard A. Sossi of the Upper Shore.

"Some of our defeats or potential defeats are surprising," said Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, the House minority leader.

Minority whip, Del. Christopher B. Shank leaves the House to become senator for Washington County, having defeated incumbent Sen. Donald F. Munson. O'Donnell said the House is 'Losing one of its rising stars, but it's the Senate's gain.

O'Donnell predicted Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and Minority Leader Allan Kittleman would "enjoy Shank tremendously."

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010, Primaries 2010
        

Most of the city's votes have been tallied. The Election Board has unofficially listed state's attorney challenger Gregg Bernstein as victorious against incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy. But nobody has claimed victory or defeat.

Jessamy's camp said today that there were no plans to concede. From Baltimore Sun reporter Tricia Bishop:

“I just don’t know how this happened,” said Jessamy’s spokeswoman  Marilyn Harris-Davis, questioning the integrity of Bernstein’s campaign, which Jessamy has said was made up of “lies” and misrepresentations about her record.

A spokesman from Bernstein's camp said this morning that they were expecting word from the Elections Board by early afternoon.

Posted by Maryann James at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: Primaries 2010
        

Kenneth C. Holt, the Republican candidate for Baltimore County executive , has fired the first shots of the general election campaign, saying his Democratic opponent , Kevin Kamenetz, ran an “ugly campaign” that was not relevant to the economic problems facing the county.

Holt, of Kingsville, who ran unopposed for his party’s nomination in yesterday’s primary, said this morning that Kamenetz’s successful campaign against his fellow county councilman, Joseph Bartenfelder was “based on attack ads, false statements, a lot of information that was not honest. …There’s no place for this in a time of economic crisis. If they don’t think there’s an economic crisis, they’re not fit to lead.”

Given that Kamenetz, a 52-year-old lawyer from Owings Mills, spent more than $1 million in the primary, Holt said his vote total amounts to a “poor performance.”

A former member of the Maryland House of Delegates, Holt, 59, said the poor primary turnout of Democratic voters suggests that “Democrats are not too excited about their candidates, their prospects. Republicans are excited.”

The investments executive said it seems an opportune time for the county to elect only its third Republican executive since the position was established as part of charter revision in the late 1950s. While Kamenetz has shown his strength as a fundraiser, Holt said he was not concerned about that.

“I don’t see where money had any relevance to the outcomes,” he said, pointing to a couple of strong low-budget primary campaigns by Republicans running for the County Council: Todd Huff against incumbent T. Bryan McIntire in District 3 and Ryan Nawrocki against Andrew Peet for an open seat in District 6.

“We are right and ready to win this election,” said Holt. “No one should underestimate our ability to do so.”

-Arthur Hirsch

Posted by Andy Rosen at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010, In The Counties, Primaries 2010
        

Katie A. Brown, Baltimore County election director, says the vote-counting problems -- which have delayed results in several close council races -- were due to computer glitches, as well as human error.

The computer program that counts votes off the memory cards in voting machines kept crashing Tuesday night, so officials had to slow down, she said this morning. Each memory card takes about two minutes to upload, and there are more than 2,000 machines in the county, so uploading one memory card at a time onto the election board's computers would take about six or seven hours after polls closed.

"It got to the point where we could only do about one card at a time," she said.

Meanwhile, in four or five precincts, judges left the memory cards in the machines.

Today, election board workers are going to those precincts, including one at the Charlestown retirement community, to retrieve the memory cards and upload those votes.

"This does happen, it has happened in the past," she said. "Every election, there's a problem. There's always a precinct or two that doesn't bring back a card."

Brown expects the votes to be tallied by this afternoon, but even then they won't be official.

Even as the election board officials set out to tally the missing votes, some candidates were checking results. Shown here at the board offices are Councilman Kenneth Oliver, a Democrat from Distrct 4, and Rebecca Dongarra, a Democrat from District 1.

-- Yeganeh June Torbati

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Primaries 2010
        

County Councilman Kevin Kamenetz is set to declare victory this morning in the Democratic primary for county executive.

Fellow Councilman Joe Bartenfelder, 53, a Fullerton farmer and former member of the Maryland House of Delegates, conceded the race to Kamenetz around 9 a.m., saying he won the precincts he needed to win, but the low turnout cut too far into his total vote.

"We tried to get our message out, we kept our campaign focused and positive," Bartenfelder said. "We did the best we could, we had an army of people out there helping us."

Kamenetz tapped into his base on the west side of the county, and many voters said they thought he would be a more effective and decisive leader.

About 94 percent of precincts are now reporting to the county elections board, with Kamenetz leading 52 percent to 44 percent.

Posted by David Nitkin at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Primaries 2010
        

This fall's major-party matchups in Maryland's eight U.S. House districts are all but set, based on the latest unofficial primary returns from the Maryland Board of Elections, with few, if any, changes expected in the state's congressional lineup.

None of the incumbents was seriously challenged in the primary. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett was the only representative to receive less than 70 percent of the primary vote. He got 69.8 percent, compared with 78 percent in the Republican primary two years ago.

In the First District, which takes in the entire Eastern Shore and portions of Baltimore, Harford and Anne Arundel counties, incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil of Stevensville will face Republican state Sen. Andy Harris in a rematch of the closest House election in the state two years ago. This is the only House seat in Maryland regarded as a potential party switch in the 2010 midterm.

In the weirdly shaped Second District, which includes portions of Baltimore City, Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties and a number of key installations, including the Port of Baltimore, incumbent Democratic Rep. C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Cockeysville will be opposed by Republican Marcelo Cardarelli, a surgeon with a degree in public health from Johns Hopkins.

Third District Congressman John Sarbanes of Towson, whose district includes Baltimore City and Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, will be challenged by Republican Jim Wilhelm, a technology consultant and Naval Academy graduate.

In the Fourth District, a suburban Washington jurisdiction split between Prince George's and Montgomery counties, incumbent Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards, who lives at National Harbor, will face Republican computer programmer Ralph Broadus, another Naval Academy grad.

In southern Maryland's Fifth District, Congressman Steny Hoyer of Mechanicsville, the House Democratic leader, will be opposed by Republican business executive Charles Lollar.

In the Sixth District, which stretches from northern Harford and Baltimore Counties to the West Virginia line, Bartlett of Frederick, the state's lone Republican in Congress, faces a rematch with a Democrat he defeated in 2006, Army veteran Andrew Duck.

Democratic Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Baltimore, whose Seventh District includes the city and portions of Howard and Baltimore counties, will be challenged by Frank Mirabile, Jr., a landscape designer and member of a Howard County land use task force.

Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Kensington will apparently face management consultant Michael Lee Philips in the Eighth District, which includes Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Philips was narrowly leading lawyer Bruce Stern by just 51 votes.

None of the incumbents appears to be seriously threatened, with the exception of Kratovil, who will likely face one of the toughest re-election fights in the country this fall.

Posted by Paul West at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Primary election results were painfully slow last night and this morning in Baltimore County and Baltimore City, for a variety of reasons.

In Baltimore County, fewer than 90 percent of election precincts had delivered results to the county election board on Wednesday morning. One of the main culprits: some election judges left the memory cards inside the electronic voting machines at the end of the day, rather than removing them and transmitting their contents. The county has more than 2,000 voting machines.

Jeff Stevens, an information technology manager with the county elections board, told the Sun's Yeganeh June Torbati that all precincts are expected to be updated by the end of the business day.

Posted by David Nitkin at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Primaries 2010
        

Eric Wargotz, a Republican commissioner from one of Maryland's least populated counties, has earned the unenviable task of challenging Democratic incumbent Barbara A. Mikulski in the U.S. Senate election this fall.

Wargotz, a genial physician from Queen Anne's County, spent hundreds of thousands of his own dollars in outpacing tea-party favorite Jim Rutledge in the 11-way contest for the Republican nomination.

According to unofficial results early Wednesday from the Maryland Board of Elections, Wargotz received 38.7 percent of the statewide primary vote to 31.4 percent for Rutledge, a lawyer from Harford County. The other candidates were in the low- to mid-single digits.

Some Republican Party officials had expected outsider Rutledge to prevail. They said he clearly had the most enthusiastic and energetic cadre of supporters, drawing on some of the same tea-party energy that carried Republican longshot Christine O'Donnell to a surprise victory in neighboring Delaware's U.S. Senate primary.

But Wargotz, a more established figure with a bigger wallet, was the winner.

The general election will test his willingness to continue tapping his personal wealth. Mikulski, the state's senior senator and, according to polls over the years, the most popular politician in Maryland, has roughly $4 million in her campaign account and the ability to collect more, if she needs it.

According to the latest Federal Election Commission report, Wargotz's campaign would have been in the red earlier this month, had he not kept it afloat with his own money. The Queenstown candidate had loaned his campaign $575,000 as of Aug. 25.

Posted by Paul West at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

The morning after. Some, but not all, state General Assembly some winners have become clearer. But the big story is how close many of these races were -- just a handful of votes, in some cases. Here's what we know about the 47-member Senate.

As we reported last night, developer-backed teacher Bill Ferguson unseated longtime Sen. George Della in Baltimore's waterfront district.

A wave of delegates attempted to unseat senators in their party primaries. Because of the strong lean of the districts (or the fact that they have no other competitors), last night's winners in these races are often tantamount to Nov. 2 winners.

* Washington County Republican primary: Del. Chris Shank toppled Sen. Don Munson.
* Montomery County Democratic primary: Del. Roger Manno defeated Sen. Mike Lenett.
* Prince George's County Democratic primary: Del. Victor Ramirez is leading Sen. David Harrington, though AP has not called the race.
* In a Prince George's County Democratic primary too close to call, Del. Joanne Benson is leading Sen. Nathaniel Exum by about 500 votes.
* A Montgomery County Democratic primary too close to call has Sen. Nancy King ahead of Del. Saquib Ali by fewer than 300 votes.
* Another Montgomery County Democratic primary too close to call has Del. Karen Montgomery edging Sen. Rona Kramer by about 100 votes.

More close calls and interesting matchups:

* Baltimore County Sen. Norm Stone is leading newcomer Jordan Hadfield by about 500 votes in the Democratic primary with all but one precinct reporting.

* Sen. Joan Carter Conway defeated former city fire spokesman Hector Torres by 30 percentage points in a Baltimore Democratic primary race for her seat.

* Sen. Ed Reilly held onto the Republican nomination for his Anne Arundel Senate seat, despite a strong challenge by Del. James King.

* In another Montgomery County Democratic primary race speaker, Sen. Jennie Forehand is 300 votes ahead of challenger Cheryl Kagan.

* Del. J.B. Jennings defeated Al Redmer in the Republican primary for an open Baltimore County Senate seat.

* Joe Getty easily dismissed Dale Lusher in an open Senate seat straddling Carroll and Baltimore counties.

Posted by Julie Bykowicz at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Candidate Watch 2010
        

Capital News Service reporter Stacy Jones reports from Crofton:

Republican gubernatorial challenger Brian Murphy says he'll give former Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. his endorsement -- but only if he's willing to accept it.

"He's made it pretty clear that he doesn't want much to do with me," Murphy said after conceding the GOP primary to the former governor. "Of course I thought I was the better candidate, but somebody's got to beat [Democrat Martin] O'Malley."

The Sarah Palin-endorsed tea party favorite conceded the primary late Tuesday after nearly three hours of waiting anxiously for the votes to be tallied. He made the announcement from his Crofton campaign headquarters before a room of supporters. Children in campaign t-shirts waved American flags while their parents and other adults let out heavy sighs as Murphy told them that conceding was the honorable thing to do.

"On the one hand I'm embarassed and I hate losing," Murphy told the crowd after a third of the votes had been counted. "It's been unbelieveable going up against a machine like this. I wanted to win for you guys."

Volunteer Melanie Gness said she had worked on Ehrlich's first gubernatorial campaign eight years ago but swore off campaigning again because of her disappointment with his resulting term in office.

"I even went so far as to change my party affiliation," the Annapolis woman said.

But after meeting Murphy, Gness said, she felt good about getting behind a politician again.

Murphy arrived at the office shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. to a round of applause from campaign staff and volunteers. After a round of handshakes and hugs, Murphy went into a back room to watch the returns with his wife Joy.

He emerged 90 minutes later, dismayed that news organizations had called the race for Ehrlich after only 1 percent of the precincts had reported their results.

He snacked on a piece of chocolate and peanut butter cake from his own Smith Island Sweet Shoppe cakes. The campaign staff also brought a coconut and chocolate version of the bakery's signature 10-layer cake for the occassion.

Murphy, a businessman, started the bakery after a family trip to Smith Island. The firm now ships cakes to all 50 states.

Murphy said that there'll be one sweet reward for leaving the campaign trail.

"I'm so sick of politicians right now," Murphy said. "Tomorrow I'm going to wake up and get my life back."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Shortly before 1 a.m. at the Pikesville Hilton, Baltimore County Councilman Vincent Gardina took the stage in the banquet room to announce to the 60 Kevin Kamenetz supporters who remained that that party was over -- for now.

"Unfortunately, tonight, I don't think we're going to be able to come to a conclusion. It's impossible to project a winner at this time," said Gardina, who has been advising the Kamenetz campaign for months and is not seeking re-election.

Kamenetz had been leading all night over his fellow four-term councilman, Joseph Bartenfelder, but Gardina said problems with the vote count at the county Board of Elections until Wednesday. At last count, 158 of 231 precincts had reported, with Kamenetz holding a 53 to 44 percent lead.

Volunteers had been trickling out of Bartenfelder's Parkville election party since around midnight, and the candidate himself left a little before 1 a.m.

By 12:30 a.m. , the crowd had thinned considerably and faces were growing strained as minutes ticked by with still no results. About fifty supporters remained, many incredulous that final tallies had not yet been made, and Bartenfelder staff quickly took down the few signs left in the hall.

Peter Clerkin, Kamenetz's campaign manager, said "we remain optimistic," but he said the Board of Elections had not released information on where the vote was coming from, which made it impossible to call the election.

Geography played a key role in this election, as Kamenetz was expected to do well in his home turf on the west side, and Bartenfelder to run strong on his territory in the east.
"We're waiting for the 6th," said Clerkin, meaning Bartenfelder's District 6, which includes Fullerton and Middle River.

-Arthur Hirsch and Yeganeh June Torbati

Posted by Andy Rosen at 1:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Primaries 2010
        

With 63 percent of precincts reporting in Baltimore, state's attorney challenger Gregg Bernstein has pulled ahead of incumbent Patricia Jessamy, 18,547 to 17,326, according the Baltimore Sun's Justin Fenton, stationed at the city Board of Elections. The city's numbers also show state senate challenger Bill Ferguson ahead of incumbent George Della, 3,268 to 2,222.

Posted by David Nitkin at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Primaries 2010
        

A victory statement from Republican state Sen. Andy Harris has just hit our inbox. What stands out: Harris bypasses any mention of his Democratic opponent, Rep. Frank Kratovil, to aim instead for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Harris has defeated businessman Rob Fisher in the GOP First Congressional District primary to earn a rematch with Kratovil. Kratovil beat Harris in 2008 to win the First, which takes in all of the Eastern Shore plus parts of Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Harford counties.

“I am honored to be the Republican nominee in the First District,” Harris says in the statement. “Despite being heavily outspent, I am humbled by the outpouring of support for my campaign today from all areas of the First District – each and every county.

"But today’s Primary was just the first step in stopping Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats’ job-killing policies.

"The First District wants someone with a proven record of cutting spending and fiscal discipline representing them in Washington. I’m proud to be the only candidate in the General Election who will protect small businesses and stop Washington's out-of-control spending and taxation.”

Harris, who lives in Baltimore County, watched the returns with supporters in Salisbury, a nod to the importance of the Eastern Shore -- which casts half the district's votes -- to his election hopes. Kratovil carried the counties of the Eastern Shore en route to his narrow victory two years ago.

A theme emerges: Harris wore a red “Fire Pelosi” button pinned to the pocket of his blue dress shirt Tuesday night, and told Baltimore Sun colleague Paul West he was looking “forward in the next seven weeks, in my race, to taking back the House” from the Democratic speaker.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Former Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, now chairman of the Republican National Committee, has congratulated former boss Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and state Sen. Andy Harris on their primary wins.

“With former governor Bob Ehrlich and Dr. Andy Harris leading the ticket, Maryland voters have selected a tremendous slate of Republicans this election cycle," he said in a statement. "These outstanding Republican candidates will fight to end the out-of-control spending in Annapolis and Washington, D.C., and lower the tax burden for families and small businesses across the state.

"In November, voters will send a clear message that the Democrats’ big-government agenda has failed Maryland and it’s time for new leadership. Marylanders will place our state on a stronger path to economic growth and prosperity by electing these Republican candidates in November.”

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)