The Baltimore Sun’s interesting analysis of the Maryland-GOV race.

Regarding the recent Maryland Governor’s race – specifically, the Democratic primary- well, I don’t know if I’d go that far...

The decorated Army veteran and sitting lieutenant governor paled in many voters’ eyes next to a relatively inexperienced and unknown state delegate, Heather Mizeur. While Mr. Brown was racking up endorsements from virtually every corner of Maryland’s Democratic hierarchy, Ms. Mizeur’s unapologetically progressive, issue-oriented campaign was electrifying an increasingly significant segment of the electorate who are motivated by specific causes, not party affiliation. She was as detailed as she was passionate in the expression of her ideas, and she tapped into a liberal dissatisfaction with the Democratic establishment that is generally suppressed but is no less fervent than the conservative one. (Actually, a surprising number of conservative voters said they were attracted to her candidacy as well, for the simple fact that she actually appeared to believe what she was saying.)

…but I do have to admit that Ms. Mizeur seemed to be the most trustworthy of the three.  Mind you, I wouldn’t have wanted her to do most of the things that she would have done as Governor, but I think that we can at this point give her credit for sincerity.

The rest of the article is of some interest, particularly if you’re one of those people who are still trying to figure out how the heck Larry Hogan won.  And I’m not going to pretend: I was one of those people.  I was pleased that he won, mind you.  I even voted for him in the primary.  But that race was easily the most seismic event of Election Night 2014. Even more so than the +9 in the Senate: that was merely us running the table. MD-GOV was somebody coming in, and flipping the table over…

Via @TheRickWilson.

Moe Lane

5 thoughts on “The Baltimore Sun’s interesting analysis of the Maryland-GOV race.”

  1. I’m actually not sure how Mr. Hogan won either, I was under the impression that many of the northeast states blindly voted Democrat.
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    It is possible that Obama has finally become a uniter, but probably not in the way he had in mind, cause it seems people have united against Democrats.

    1. The very short version is that Brown ran an awful campaign, Hogan ran a very good one, the polling kept people from noticing, and nobody noticed the warning signs until it was far too late. Like, after the polls closed. There may have also been reduced turnout as part of the fallout from the 2012 redistricting, which screwed black voters out of a majority-minority seat; that shouldn’t have affected Brown too much, him being black himself, but a lot of people were far too blithe about that election.

      1. Interesting analysis.
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        In any event, I think the Illinois Governorship going Republican was a bigger upset for Democrats than what happened in Maryland (the Chicago Machine being beaten).

        1. I have to tentatively disagree here, Garfield.
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          Fact 1 – Quinn (D-IL Gov) wasn’t a Chicago Machine apparatchik – he’d been a Dem gadfly in Springfield (IL) for years before succeeding Blagojevich (D-IL Gov, Crook) who *was* part of the Chicago Machine – look up Chicago alderman Richard Mell and keep in mind Blago married his daughter.
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          (this is regarded by many Illinois-watchers as one of two ways Quinn would get into the big chair .. the other involved Blagojevich dying)
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          Fact 2 – Rauner (R-IL Gov) has *no* political record whatsoever. He did serve as an adviser to Rahm Emmanuel (D-Chi) (former Obama adviser, Chicago machine apparatchik) but hasn’t ever actually *run* for anything before.
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          Fact 3 – Illinois has one political party, the Combine, which puts up both a GOP and a Dem candidate for significant offices, then wins regardless of party affiliation.
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          It isn’t *clear* (yet) whether Rauner is part of the Combine .. that he hung with Rahm isn’t good, but isn’t conclusive. The way we’ll know is whether the General Assembly (which is in the hands of the Madigan family) lets Rauner actually *achieve* anything.
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          If so, Rauner’s Combine, and .. I do, in fact, disagree since that’d mean the Combine just put Quinn out to pasture with their left paw and brought up Rauner with their right.
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          Mew

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