So here’s a question for you: if so few Marylanders have made up their minds in the races for governor and attorney general, does this mean we may have a real contest on our hands?
Wait. "Undecided" is the leading candidate in these races?
That’s what “they” are saying after the Baltimore Sun’s pulse-taking showed no one with an insurmountable lead. Even Del. Heather Mizeur, everybody’s favorite long-shot, has an outside chance at the gold ring in the Democratic primary. Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown has a big lead, but the race really has not begun.
Brown’s campaigning as if he thinks it’s not a done deal. And Atty. Gen. Doug Gansler hasn’t thrown in the towel. Never will. And Mizeur keeps grinding.
On the Republican side, Harford County Executive David Craig promises a big tax cut. Maybe that will get him some attention. He deserves some. He’s the only candidate in either party who's run a government. Might be useful for the CEO of a $40 billion corporation like the state of Maryland.
Could he get a big cut through the Democrat-dominated General Assembly? No, but a willingness to try could make him competitive in his party’s primary. Larry Hogan, Jr., an Ehrlich Administration aide, was way ahead largely on the basis of name recognition. His father was a congressman from Prince George’s County in the 1970s.
Voters in both parties are waiting to see, apparently. They haven’t tuned in so far, one might guess, because they don’t realize how close we are to a primary date moved from September to June. Also, shrinking news media means less coverage. And, so far, the candidates haven’t been lighting anyone’s fire.
We may have to pick the least boring or least tarnished or least experienced contender.
That’s our job – if we want to think of ourselves as citizens in a democracy.
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