Not long ago, the Democratic primaries provided the real action in Maryland. By November, most Republicans, and statewide candidates in particular, were reduced to playing the foil.
The rise of Robert L. Ehrlich and Michael Steele changed all that. For the first time in the electoral lives of most Marylanders, the GOP will field serious candidates for governor and Senate, including the first incumbent Republican governor to run for re-election in half a century.
The Republicans’ bench is not yet deep enough, however, to make their primary very interesting. Ehrlich and Steele essentially ran unopposed, and none of the congressional primaries mattered because the state’s two Republican congressmen, Roscoe Bartlett and Wayne Gilchrist, are in seats as safe as those six presently held by Democrats.
So the Democratic primaries again provided all the action, including the dethronement of the state’s most storied politician, William Donald Schaefer.
Let’s review this week’s winners and losers:
Winners
» Ben Cardin and Kweisi Mfume. Third District congressman Cardin won the Senate primary by a slight margin, 44 percent to 41 percent, over Mfume. To the chagrin of state media hoping for a major, race-based conflagration, both men ran thoughtful, cordial campaigns. Watch for Mfume to rally behind Cardin in the general.
» Peter Franchot. Mired at 11 percent earlier this summer, state legislator Franchot used key newspaper endorsements to catapult ahead of Arundel County Executive Janet Owens and incumbent William Donald Schaefer to win a tight, three-way contest for comptroller. Franchot deserved to win for daring to run before Schaefer’s self-destructive behavior made the race competitive.
» Doug Gansler. The Montgomery County state’s attorney beat Stu Simms to win the nomination for attorney general. Gansler survived a rollercoaster year: Up when incumbent AG Joe Curran finally retired, down when Doug Duncan’s withdrawal from the governor’s race allowed Simms to file, then up again when the Court of Appeals ruled fellow Montgomery candidate Tom Perez ineligible to run.
Losers
» Steele. The lieutenant governor made it very clear he wanted Mfume to win the primary, and for good reason: Polls consistently show Steele would have fared better in a supposedly “race neutral” contest against Mfume. Steele’s path to the Senate just got a whole lot steeper.
» Schaefer and Owens. Schaefer, the former Baltimore mayor, two-term governor and soon-to-be ex-comptroller, was his own worst enemy in 2006. After insulting a young female state employee, he opted to lose the rest of the women’s vote by calling Owens a “mother Hubbard” — an ignoble end to a noble career. Owens’ mistake was that she flirted too long with running for other various offices (Senate, House, lieutenant governor). Had she declared against Schaefer earlier than four months ago, she would have made it nearly impossible for Franchot to beat her.
» The state teachers union. The Maryland State Teachers Union endorsed Mfume over Cardin, Perez over Gansler, and favored Duncan over Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley (though neither won an official endorsement). With Mfume, Perez and Duncan gone, only the MSTA’s choice of Franchot gives the union a top-tier endorsee on this fall’s ballot.
» The Prince George’s machine. Fourth District congressman Al Wynn may escape with a narrow victory over longshot challenger Donna Edwards. (Results are not final.) But even if Wynn holds on,his thin win and that of County Executive Jack Johnson over Rushern Baker reveal deep dissatisfaction among rank-and-file county Democrats with Wynn’s strong-arm, machine politics.
With the Democratic primaries out of the way, Ehrlich and O’Malley move back to center stage for what promises to be one of the most exciting and fiercely fought gubernatorial races in the country this cycle.
Thomas Schaller is an associate political science professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and author of “Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South” (Simon & Schuster).
