[cogitator]

Now, it is possible that the black vote did come home to some extent in the final days of the campaign. Again, I have not seen the final data (do you have a citation?). I think the earlier polling was showing that some in the black monolith were at least taking a look at Ehrlich and Steele.

Sweet Victory for GOP'S Steele

Read the second-to-last paragraph.

Here's the Post's analysis of the election results.

Ehrlich Shook Conservative Label

"Black voters, regardless of ideological leanings, overwhelmingly supported Townsend, who claimed 95 percent of the vote among black liberals, 91 percent of black moderates and 79 percent of black conservatives."

And this is the article suggesting that white women were an unexpected source of support for Ehrlich.

Maryland Voters Deliver a Call for Change

"The poll suggested that Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's defeat on Tuesday may have come, in part, from an unexpected source: white women, who voted on Tuesday in disproportionately large numbers for Ehrlich.

Ehrlich held a 23 percentage point lead among white women, claiming 61 percent of their vote compared with 38 percent for Townsend. In the past two governor's races, white women split their vote equally between the Democratic and Republican contenders."

So given Glendening's personal conduct in the last years in office, I interpret that as indicating that a large number of women saw KKT as condoning the infidelity of her political "husband", and spanked her for it.

[HoosierFather]

Thanks for the data. Leading up to the election, KKT was not pulling 90% of the black vote. So, when black voters in MD get into the polling booth, they appear to go into auto-pilot and pull the Democrat lever. Thus, any progress by Ehrlich-Steele with the black vote in MD was in fact minimal, only a few percent at best. Too bad! Maybe after 4 years exposed to Ehrlich and Steele, more blacks will be be influenced.