By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

February 20, 2012 - The most prominent thing on David Craig’s campaign website right now is his proposal to realign Major League Baseball divisions.

How cool is that?

Craig, the Harford County executive who is contemplating seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2014, thinks baseball can regain some of its lost popularity if its divisions are aligned to roughly match those in the National Football League, building off of America’s most storied football rivalries. It’s an intriguing idea that has caught the attention of a few baseball franchises already.

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Rich Man, Poor Campaign?

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

February 07, 2012 - The ghost of Josh Rales hangs heavy over John Delaney.

Rales was the Potomac multimillionaire who, after a lifetime of business success and good works, thought he’d run for Senate back in 2006. He took 5 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary after burning through $5.2 million of his own money.

Delaney is a Potomac multimillionaire who, after a lifetime of business success and good works, has decided to run for Congress in the newly-drawn 6th district, spoiling the coronation that state Senate Majority Leader Rob Garagiola was expecting in the Democratic primary.

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The Brawl We Won’t Be Seeing Here (Plus: Women Emerge in Maryland)

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

February 01, 2012 - Anyone rooting for Maryland to make a difference in the Republican presidential nomination fight had better pray for a closer-than-expected finish in today’s Florida primary.

By all accounts, Mitt Romney is widening the gap over Newt Gingrich in the Sunshine State and should win rather handily. Already you can hear the pundits declaring that Romney has “righted his ship” and will now cruise to the nomination.

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Free Shot

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

January 24, 2012 - Back in 2004, at an evening reception in Annapolis a couple of weeks before the Maryland primary, I was surprised to find myself right behind state Sen. Richard Colburn in the buffet line.

Colburn was trying to oust Congressman Wayne Gilchrest in the Republican primary that year, and I figured he’d be spending every free hour meeting voters in the 1st Congressional district. So I asked him why he was in the Loews Hotel in Annapolis instead of in Romancoke or Salisbury or Denton. Colburn looked down at the steam table of stuffed ham before him and then gave me a “you’ve got to be kidding” look.

“Free food,” he replied with succinct eloquence.

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Miller’s Crossing

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

January 18, 2012 - With a wink and a nod and a few taps on a computer keyboard, the wiliest member of the Maryland General Assembly may have effectively ended the career of the second wiliest — even though the two have been allies for decades.

Senate President Mike Miller’s desire to keep a portion of Prince George’s County in his Southern Maryland district going forward has left House Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Vallario a man without a political home.

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Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

January 11, 2012 - He’s doing it again. Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold (R ) is knocking on doors again. Which means he must be running for something, right?

Well, probably. But in a recent interview, Leopold, who is term limited in 2014, says the incessant door knocking, which he has made an integral part of his political identity and appeal, is also a vital way of doing business.

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O’Malley and the Mod Squad

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

January 03, 2012 - With the 2012 General Assembly session set to begin next week, all the previews will no doubt talk about the ambitious agenda and the challenges Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) will face pushing it through.

That’s all true.

But what’s especially noteworthy about the agenda O’Malley has laid before the lawmakers is how liberal it is – and how difficult it will be for conservative and moderate Democrats to support it.

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Jim Rosapepe’s Boot & Roscoe Bartlett’s Poll

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

December 29, 2011 - It’s no secret that state Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D) wants to run for comptroller in 2014.

Of all the would-be candidates for comptroller, Rosapepe has been the most out-front so far. He held a fundraiser this fall with former Gov. Harry Hughes and has another scheduled soon with former Sen. Paul Sarbanes. He is touting the support of his fellow state senators. He even put his desire to run in his holiday card this season.

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Holiday Green and Anthony Brown

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

December 06, 2011 - Ah, the holidays.

You like to spend your hard-earned money on special gifts for the family, or maybe a nice vacation. And if there’s anything extra, you hope to send a little to the local food pantry, or maybe a charity that helps children living in poverty.

But in Maryland’s political system, if you want to be a player, you’ve got to set some money aside this time of year for the elected officials.

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Road to Nowhere

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

November 22, 2011 - It’s an exciting time in the world of Maryland transportation. The vaunted, long-awaited Intercounty Connector opens today. The proposed Red Line in Baltimore was recently granted fast-track status by the Obama administration, expediting the federal planning and permitting process.

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Why Glenn Ivey Will Win — And Why He Won’t

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

November 11, 2011 - Glenn Ivey has often dreamed of serving in Congress — a goal that his many friends have long shared for him.

This may be his moment: Thanks to redistricting, with U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards (D) on the ropes, 2012 may be the year that Ivey, the former Prince George’s County state’s attorney and erstwhile House and Senate staffer, finally makes his triumphant return to Capitol Hill, this time as the principal.

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Around the Horn: Maryland Register, IRV, Uly Currie

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

October 31, 2011 - The Maryland Register is not for the faint of heart.

It is not for casual observers of Maryland politics and government — and it’s not for the far-sighted (the print is awfully small). And now, thanks to a recent change of policy at the Maryland Secretary of State’s office, it’s not for you and me, either.

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Oh Donna (and Valerie)

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

Donna Edwards and Valerie Ervin, two of the most prominent and interesting figures in Maryland politics today, have been friends since they grew up together on Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M.

There were other African-American families on the base, but not many. And in the city, per capita, there were far fewer. It wasn’t like coming of age in the Deep South in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, but in a part of the world where marketers are forever promoting the convergence of three cultures — Hispanic, Anglo and Native American — they must have felt very, very isolated.

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Bartlett Pared

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

October 18, 2011 - If there’s one thing we’ve learned from what passes for partisan warfare in this state, it’s that Republicans only prosper when Democrats screw up.

Look back over the last few decades: Spiro Agnew was elected governor in 1966 when Democrats nominated a racist yahoo. Twenty years later, Connie Morella won a Montgomery County Congressional district because the Democratic nominee who emerged after a contentious primary was stiff, rich and not especially likeable.

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Van Hollen’s Lament

By Josh Kurtz
Exclusive to Center Maryland, a Corridor Inc. Partner

You’re Chris Van Hollen. You knocked off an entrenched Republican member of Congress in 2002 who other ambitious, high profile Democrats had been targeting for years – after first outmaneuvering a Kennedy in the Democratic primary.

You stood down and chose not to run for Senate in 2006 after Paul Sarbanes retired, even though you knew you had a pretty good chance of winning – and averted a Democratic bloodbath in the process.

You helped House Democrats pick up more than 50 seats in consecutive election cycles, enabling Nancy Pelosi to become Speaker and Steny Hoyer, your fellow Marylander who favored the aforementioned Kennedy in that 2002 primary, to become Majority Leader.

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Josh Kurtz: Race and Races

Two Illinois congressmen almost came to blows on the House floor last week. Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D) and Luis Gutierrez (D) were arguing rather vociferously about the new congressional district map for their state.

What does that have to do with Maryland politics?

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Josh Kurtz — O’Malley vs. McDonnell: Brought to You by The Washington Post

It’s probably safe to assume that Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) would like to be president of the United States some day.

It’s equally safe to assume that his counterpart across the Potomac, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), would also like to be president some day.

To the extent that they can, both are taking early steps to ensure that they can build national campaigns sometime in the future. It’s really too soon for anything else – 2016, after all, is five years away.

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Josh Kurtz: Jack Johnson and the Offal Truth

As they prepare for his sentencing in December, attorneys for Jack Johnson are no doubt digesting all the evidence the federal government has produced – the tapes and transcripts, the documents that were used to build the corruption case against the disgraced former Prince George’s County executive.

But are they prepared for the fury of the Chitlin Queen?

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Josh Kurtz: Betting the Chalk

The Baltimore mayoral election is developing the feel of a rout.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s challengers will continue to take their whacks at her – beginning tonight, at a forum sponsored by the community development coalition BUILD. The campaign is starting to look like a gang attack.

But it hardly seems to matter.

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Josh Kurtz: Death Knell for Democrats?

With the 2012 presidential election suddenly dialed up in the past few days, many Democrats take solace in the fact that Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul and Herman Cain combined for two-thirds of the vote in the Iowa Republican straw poll the other day.

They shouldn’t.

Similarly, optimistic Democrats, while acknowledging President Obama’s own recent drop in the polls, happily point out that the Republican Party was at its lowest standing – ever – in the most recent Gallup Poll. The latest generic Congressional ballot similarly shows Democrats preferred by 7 points over the GOP. And Obama this week is going out on the road, ready, at long last, we’re told, to fight back.

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