Here in Maryland we dodged a serious bullet with Michael Steele's defeat. The guy's a serious wingnut, and ran a fluff, substanceless campaign designed to conceal his true nature. And it almost worked. Good thing our voters came through, but we might not be so lucky next time.
And while Ben Cardin's not the most inspiring campaigner, he's been a very effective congressman and he's going to do Maryland proud in the Senate. Congratulations Ben!
I hope the Maryland Democratic Party now takes a good hard look at itself and doesn't use O'Malley's apparent (and very narrow) victory as an excuse to keep taking the state for granted. We need to develop a REAL infrastrcuture -- in a great year for Democrats nationwide, we barely held on here.
Why do you say we "dodged a bullett" with Sttle. Cardin kicked his ass; the final margin was like 8-10. O'Malley had a good margin too. For all the talk, MD did very well.
Because he thinks Steele is a wackjob...
Steele worries me as well... Even losing by what he did, he is in a VERY blue state in a WAVE year. He still has a political future and is one of the bad guys to keep an eye on. My Bet is we face him again int he next 2-4 years.
Ford is the same way. He lost a very close race in a state that trends GOP. He lost because Corker had to resort to the worst type of Rovian tactics...Again someone who will be back and is a good candidate for a southern state. Not my favorite kind of politician, but he is a guy I think who will eventually be able to win in Tennessee.
I predicted a 10 point margin for Cardin- and I did predict Steele getting 1/4 of the Black vote and the White votes spitting 55-45 in favor of Steele.
Both candidates underperformed in their regional bases. Cardin did a little better outside the Greater Baltimore/DC Metro Area. Steele did better in Baltimore City and PG County.
Ben Cardin will be a senator in the mold of Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Paul Sarbanes-
Low Keyed like Sarbanes and Moynihan- Public Policy Wonk like Sarbanes and Moynihan but like Moynihan and unlike Sarbanes- Cardin will be a consensus builder.
