Posted on 01/16/2005 6:41:04 PM PST by AuH2ORepublican
Mfume, O’Malley Lead 2006 Democratic Pack for Md. Senate, Poll Shows
By Josh Kurtz Roll Call Staff Wednesday, Jan. 12; 11:35am
Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley and former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume are running neck and neck in a new independent poll on the 2006 Maryland Senate Democratic primary, with Rep. Benjamin Cardin close behind.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
Will it be Kweisi Mfume against Lt. Gov. Michael Steele for the U.S. Senate in Maryland in 2006? If so, we might elect the first black GOP Senator since the 1970s.
If the Democrats in MD are stupid enough to nominate Kweisi Mfume-and I don't think that they are, by any means-then I don't see how any Republican-unless Alan Keyes decides to abandon his newfound home in Illinois for a return engagemen-could possibly lose that (hypothetical) race.
Steele may prefer to wait it out to succeed Ehrlich as Governor in 2010 (and Ehrlich would also have to find a top-notch running mate, perhaps trying to lure disgruntled Black PG Democrat Wayne Curry to switch is one possibility). I'd be surprised if the MD 'Rats would even nominate Mfume for the Senate (and, of course, the biggest rumblings from Black Dems in MD is the party's refusal to advance them to the highest positions despite representing a huge % of the state party). Mfume vs. Steele would be a very interesting contest, regardless. But is it an absolute certainty that Sarbanes will retire ? I thought he wouldn't leave the Senate except in a bodybag.
"But is it an absolute certainty that Sarbanes will retire?"
I wouldn't be so quick to write off Kweisi in a general, especially in a state like MD. Many of us were WAY off in our calculation that nominating a radical nut with a scary name (who couldn't even win the nomination for a House seat when he ran previously) would lose in a landslide for a Senate seat to a Republican, and now that nut is the junior Senator from Illinois.
Don't get me wrong, Jack Ryan definitely would have had to wage an uphill battle in that race.
Considering the fact that Carol Moseley-Braun was elected-albeit, by a very small margin-it might even be hard to make a plausible case that someone who is-relatively speaking-free of ethical blemishes, such as Barack Obama, could have been defeated.
However, if you look at the final presidential numbers, I believe that President Bush lost the state by ten points, I think that Jack Ryan could have definitely made a race of it.
If Sarbanes dies in office - and, no, I'm not wishing that - Governor Ehrlich should appoint O'Malley as his replacement. Not saying it would happen, but it would knock Ehrlich's biggest potential challenger out of the race for Governor in 2006.
Word is Sarbanes was waiting to see if the Dems would recapture the Senate in the just concluded elections. Had the Dems taken control, Sarbanes would've been Chairman of the Banking Committee - Uber Powerful.
As for Lt. Governor Steele, he has never offered so much as a hint that he'd like to run for US Senate. He wants to run for Governor following a second Ehrlich term. Of course, depending on who would be the likely Dem nominee, that could change.
If the IL state GOP didn't have the problems it did, Pete Fitzgerald SHOULD have been running for reelection (and hence Jack Ryan and Alan Keyes and all the rest need not have even entered the equation). Fitz had not a whiff of corruption about him and amassed the best record for an IL Senator since Everett Dirksen, but his problem was that he was pledged to weeding out the corruption in BOTH parties, and for that, he had to be gotten rid of. This wound was inflicted solely by the IL state GOP, the 'Rats (where ethics is a matter of little concern) merely profit from our numerous mistakes. I don't believe the state GOP has hit rock bottom, yet...
So, it appears that you may be on to something.
I like your tag-line!
I always thought that it was French for flaming mediocrity.
Flaming mediocrity would be a compliment for the Olympian Pretender. 'Tis always amazing that where the 'Rats are concerned, turds do rise to the top.
She's essentially a female, Caucasian replica of Gary Locke.
Why didn't they just nominate him for a third term, if they were so infatuated with Mr. Locke's captivating personality?
It's also possible E J Pipkin may run. He is the State Senator from our district that just got trounced by Mikulski last year, but he has plenty of money and could do much better against Mfume.
And BTW, Pipkin is NOT a RINO, he is the real thing, which is pretty amazing in this state.
It would be a amazing if it happens, but it sounds like a lot of things would have to go right for this to happen.
Unforunately, I don't think the Ill. GOP will hit rock bottom till Hastert bites the dust.
I can't stand Hastert. I just don't trust him.
His absured handling of the Illinois Senate race for one thing. Had a freshman poli-sci student been doing things around there, he couldn't possibly have done worse. From his insistence that Ryan step down, to his laughably bad handling of the Ditka situation, to the eventual joke that was Keys. It was a disaster, and he was either directly or indirectly part of all of it.
For another, the party in Illinois is obviously corrupt to the core, and you simply can't be as powerful as he is, and not know about it. He is either complacent or part of it.
I suppose you could attribute the selection of a candidate for the U.S. Senate race to him-I'm sure that he some input-but I don't think that he concerns himself much with the day-to-day operations or internecine, GOP politics in his home state.
In fact, I'm sure that being Speaker is enough of a headache that he doesn't have the time or the political capital to expend reconstructing a state party that is in utter disarray.
No more difficult than Ehrlich/Steele defeating a Kennedy clan member the first time around. From the little I've seen of LtGov Steele, I've been very impressed with him.
To ever speak of a Republican being unbeatable in a hypothetical statewide race in MD is ___. I simply cannot think of the word to use.
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