Of course, he was swept into offices by Maryland's 'Ace-in-the-Hole,' i.e., a Baltimore voter base that has voted early,often, and exactly as needed since 1789. However, he is a good plagiarist speaker, is telegenic, and reads a teleprompter far better than The Mombasa MF.
Against Jeb/McAnus/Dole Rove-chosen Republicans, he could score big points, maybe win! Plus, the 'working class Democrat' (i.e., White Men People) will not be so alienated from him as they are apt to be from Hillary or the Injun Gal. In short, beware, this guy could be a major dark horse player ... a Loonie Lefter who can realistically fake Centrist, Blue Dog Democrat.
Would it help you to know that when he was in his last year as mayor, he rode in the Saint Patrick's Day parade in an old blue-collar majority white Democrat section of town and got booed? Naturally, it's been scrubbed from the Internet.