By Josh Kurtz — What do the retirements of Congressmen from Kansas and Tennessee have to do with Maryland politics? At first glance – nothing. No one in Maryland has even heard of U.S. Reps. Dennis Moore (D-Kansas) and John Tanner (D-Tenn.).
But still, they're significant.
What’s more, in 1994, Republicans benefited greatly from a rash of Democratic retirements — 18 of the 52 House seats the GOP picked up that year came in open-seat races, in districts where Democratic incumbents were stepping down or moving on.
In this state, the big unknown for 2010 is whether former Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) seeks a rematch with the man who defeated him in 2006, current Gov. Martin O’Malley (D).
As Ehrlich ponders his future, the principal thing he’ll have to calculate is O’Malley’s political strength.
Fear not — look no further than Prince George’s County for a full menu of nasty, competitive, hard-to-predict races. A combination of term limits, big egos, political scandals, and longstanding feuds makes Prince George’s an intense battle ground next year, at least in the Democratic primaries. Starting at the top, with County Executive Jack Johnson (D) term limited, the race to replace him looks like a Wild West shoot-out.
Former state Del. Rushern Baker III (D), who has run twice before and came agonizingly close to ousting Johnson in 2006, starts as the frontrunner. He has the name recognition, the experience of his previous campaigns, the reform mantle, an improved organization and fundraising operation, and support of key powerbrokers in the community. What he doesn’t have is a sense of inevitability and invincibility; two losses will do that.
By Josh Kurtz — It used to be said that the most dangerous place to be standing in Maryland was between Doug Gansler and a TV camera. Gansler was positively ubiquitous as Montgomery County states attorney, hogging the spotlight when his office was prosecuting high-profile cases, sometimes appearing in the media on topics that were of no relevance to his official duties.
