Politics R Us

Maryland does most of its electing at the interim election. Senators, representatives, governors, state delegates and senators, county council representatives, and county executives all get decided in the off-years when there's no presidential election to contend with. (With its 10 electoral votes, Maryland is much too important to the presidential outcome to complicate things with state and local races.)

For several reasons, this year's national, state, and Howard County campaigns all promise to be barnburners. Maryland's race for US Senate is up in the air now that five-term senator, Paul Sarbanes, is retiring. Ben Cardin (D-MD District 3 representative), Kweisi Mfume (D-former head of NAACP), and Michael Steele (R-lieutenant governor) all are vying. I've met Cardin twice including one time on a bicycle ride. He joined the Baltimore Bicycling Club for a 15-miler one Saturday morning several years ago. He came across as a very nice guy who genuinely cares about Maryland. I hope he wins but he has to get past the primary. Steele may have already screwed the pooch trying to distance himself from W last week. In an effort to patch things up, Steele called W his "homeboy". How articulate.

Maryland's race for governor is going to get ugly. Very ugly. Republican incumbent Robert Ehrlich goes up against Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley. There is no love lost between these two guys and as we get closer to November, we're going to see a lot of mud. This race, and the US Senate race, are already being closely watched by political strategists from both parties - particularly Republicans - to see just how far down the Bush taint will affect things. (Which is going to be irritating. No one pays much attention to Maryland usually. I'm going to hate it if CNN and Fox News start getting into our knickers. We can elect our own governor thank you very much.) O'Malley is competent but too local to displace the ever-arrogant Ehrlich. Maryland's best hope was in Montgomery County Executive, Doug Duncan, who had to withdraw from the race due to health problems.

Then there's Howard County. Seems like everybody is running for something: county executive, county council, school board, registrar of wills, you name it. Land use and zoning will drive the outcomes. There are a lot of pissed-off Howard Countians right now and a couple of recent decisions - Comp Lite and approval of a 22-story condominium in Columbia - only confirm what everyone here already knows: developers have free reign. Even now, hundreds of candidate signs dot the landscape. There will be a lot of political hay to be made at next week's Howard County Fair.

I'll do my best to keep local politics out of Plugs and Dottles but no promises. These next three months are going to be just too much fun for us Maryland politics junkies.
K-