O'Malley beats Ehrlich at home in Balto.Co.
Baltimore County supporters of former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. had their share of bad news on Election Day, when it appeared their man had won his native county by only a few hundred votes, far short of the margin he was presumed to have needed to prevail in his re-match with Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley. Now, with all but one small count of overseas ballots completed, it turns out that Ehrlich -- who won the county in 2006 against O'Malley and in 2002 against Kathleen Kennedy Towsend -- actually lost in the county by 1,305 votes.
The new county total: 141,679 for O'Malley to 140,374 for Ehrlich, is the result of a count of 4,511 provisional ballots on Nov. 10 and 873 more absentee ballots today said Katie A. Brown, director of the Baltimore County Board of Elections.
In the weeks before the election, county political junkies didn't figure Ehrlich would match his 2002 county total, when he won with more than 60 percent, but to win the state race they reckoned he had to do better than in 2006, when he topped O'Malley in Baltimore County by about 2 percentage points. Ehrlich campaign signs were everywhere in the county, and supporters on the conservative southwest and southeast corners were said to be fired up with enthusiasm.
The new totals serve only to strengthen other outcomes, including the tightest race for the District 6 County Council seat, where Cathy A. Bevins of Middle River was leading Ryan Nawrocki of Rosedale by a few hundreds votes. The new total has Bevins ahead by 505 votes, 17, 991 to 17,486.
Brown said all that remains to make the results official is a count of about 100 remaining overseas ballots on Nov. 22.
"We're almost there," said Brown. "Hopefully by the 23rd this will all be done and the fat lady will have sung."
Categories: In The Counties, Maryland election 2010
Comments
No surprise here.....but it is still sweet.
Posted by: Ray Barcia | November 12, 2010 3:13 PM
but but but it's just the minority welfare vote riggers in the city that keep maryland democratic!!!
Posted by: mike | November 12, 2010 3:21 PM
What a coincidence that the conservative pockets of the county happens to be crown jewels like Dundalk, Essex, Middle River, Arbutus and Landsdowne. I can understand billionaires supporting the GOP, but it's sad to see the uneducated poor drinking the kool-aid.
Posted by: Adam | November 12, 2010 3:43 PM
No one wanted to re-visit the past with Ehrlich. His day has passed. O'Malley proved he is the better politician. Ehrlich sealed his fate by saying he would cut the education budget. He was labeled the "anti-education" governor. Can't win with that kind of platform.
Posted by: Bud | November 12, 2010 3:43 PM
Ehrlich lost the areas where African Americans had moved out of the city and he lost the areas where immigrants had begun to settle in greater numbers. His refusal to distance himself from the crazies on the right who make racist, xenophobic comments caused those new voters to gravitate toward O'Malley. There's a cost to pandering to your base in a state that is 2/3 Democratic.
Posted by: IPFrehley | November 12, 2010 3:49 PM
Ehrlich should have paid for more robo-calls in Baltimore County. That would have sealed it!
Posted by: Bob | November 12, 2010 3:57 PM
One reason for the 'OWE' Mally win is that he had more money in his war chest than
Ehrlich.
It's interesting, 2 days after the election, the Sunpapers printed that we NOW face a 1 billion dollar budget deficit.
Well guess what folks....'OWE' Mally is GOING TO RAISE TAXES. But don't worry.
Because Maryland is a sanctuary state for illegals, THEY won't be paying any taxes..... only YOU !!!
Posted by: Ezracer | November 12, 2010 5:53 PM
What's the average IQ of a Baltimore County resident? I'm guessing it's in the 2-figure range.
Posted by: HarlanR | November 12, 2010 7:02 PM
Forget who said it but "the voters get what they want -- and they normally deserve it".
We again have 'tax & spend' Democrats controlling all 3 branches and our idiot voters will ask what happened when taxes are again raised in this already highly taxed states.
Posted by: Don I | November 12, 2010 8:43 PM
So let's see, could there possibly be any correlation between the increased numbers for Marty O'Mugme in 2009 and the fact that the black population in Baltimore County has INCREASED by 47,000 since 2000 while at the same time the white population has DECREASED 31,000? We all know that the Sunpapers would NEVER do a thorough enough job of research to report demographic changes such as these, now would they? The reporting by the Sun is the most biased in the country and an absolute disgrace. The norm with the Sun is to only tell the part of the story that fits their stance on an issue. Wake up people!!!
Posted by: outtahere | November 12, 2010 8:46 PM
Martin hasdone well hearding the flock of sheep in Balto Co. Now they can be slaughters like lambs. If the election would been held around 4th of july Omalley the Stuff Suit Gov would been no more. Amazing follow the Money he got plenty of money & help from Jackson in PG County I'm sure.Love to hear the entire wire tap for last year . Maryland You Got to Love it .Taxes Suck but corruption is great !
Posted by: Gitdon | November 13, 2010 6:32 PM
The reason that Ehrlich lost by even greater margins this time, including Baltimore County, is because people know him all too well after three attempts and four years of whining on the radio.
Posted by: Mark | November 14, 2010 3:04 PM
The ONLY joy I get from O'Malley winning, is getting to see all the people who had O'Malley signs on their lawns being replaced by forclosure signs. Hey! They got what they wanted! They'll go broke when he raises taxes again....and again...and again. You idiots voted him in, you made your filthy bed, now LAY IN IT. LOL
Posted by: Christopher | November 14, 2010 11:23 PM
Gov. O'Malley has also become the first governor in MD history to reach 1,000,000 votes. So for those who blame the margin of victory on pure voter registration, consider that Gov O'Malley received more votes than any other Governor in MD.
Posted by: Josh | November 16, 2010 7:56 AM