Hometown Hoedown (MD at the races!)

[nacho]

Your assignment:  Find out what your local elections are going to be all about.

Me:  Maryland, Montgomery County.

Slot machines -- Dear god, it's war!  Doug Duncan and Martin O'Malley, the two powerhouses about to crush Gov Ehrlich, have been forced to take sides.  Duncan opposed the Devil Slots, O'Malley says, let's think about it, as his black supporters and the poor counties surrounding Baltimore are in dire need of income.  Dear old Duncan, he has a mansion and a Fresh Fields nearby.  Duncan says of Maryland:  Vegas it is not.  O'Malley agrees, on the surface.  Economic renewal won't be the goal, but let's meet in the middle.  A rare turn, O'Malley supports not slots, but the voice of reason.  Local politics become mired in the issue, so let's just do whatever and "get it behind us."  How important is the issue?  Not at all.  Slots or no slots, there's business at hand.  

O'Malley earns smiles and praise.

Duncan, shrilly, says O'Malley is an Ehrlich apologist.  O'Malley shrugs this off.  Let them have their slots.  Do you really think it's worth getting worked up about?  Duncan's hurting himself in the polls.  Maryland loves the voice of reason.

[RottingCorpse]

Governor election is teh big one here in VA. GOP's Kilgore vs. the Demolition's Tim Kaine with RUss Potts pulling the Ralph Nader. TV ads have been nasty, and it's a neck in neck race.

Should be good times come November 8.

[monkey!]

Just shoot them all.

[nacho]

By TOM STUCKEY
Associated Press Writer

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - A new poll released Tuesday contained some good news for Democrats who are hoping to reclaim the governor's mansion next year and hold onto the U.S. Senate seat that will come open with the retirement of Paul S. Sarbanes.

The poll by Gonzales Research & Marketing Strategies showed that a year before the 2006 general election, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley is leading Gov. Robert Ehrlich 48 percent to 42 percent with 10 percent undecided. A matchup between Ehrlich and the other major Democratic contender showed him almost tied with Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, who was favored by 45 percent of those responding to the poll compared with 44 percent for the governor.

In the Senate race, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Cardin had a nine-point lead, 47 percent to 38 percent, over Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who was expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination Tuesday. Steele, Maryland's first black lieutenant governor, held his own in a matchup with the only black Democrat in the race, former U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume. Steele was supported by 42 percent of people polled and Mfume by 40 percent, and the lieutenant governor was leading four other Democrats.

The poll was made available to news media outlets by the Annapolis-based marketing and research company. The poll of 815 registered voters who vote regularly was conducted Oct. 17 through Oct. 21 and has a margin of sampling error of 3 1/2 percentage points. It did not include any questions about the Democratic primaries for governor or the Senate.

Patrick Gonzales, president of the company, said Ehrlich has the support of 90 percent of Republicans and leads O'Malley among independents, but is not picking up the one in three Democrats that Republicans need to win in Maryland.

While the governor is overwhelmingly popular with Republicans, only 26 percent of Democrats gave him a favorable job approval rating, down from 36 percent in a previous poll taken in January. His overall job approval rating during that period dropped from 55 percent to 49 percent.

Derek Walker, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, said the poll results show that "the Ehrlich-Steele administration is not representing the people of Maryland effectively and that the people of Maryland are ready for a change."

"For an incumbent governor to be in the low 40s and for an incumbent lieutenant governor to not be breaking 40 percent is a sign that Marylanders are looking in a very different direction," Walker said.

But Audra Miller, spokeswoman for the Maryland Republican Party, said the poll was taken shortly after O'Malley announced his candidacy and during the week Duncan formally entered the race and reflected positive news coverage of the promises they are making to Maryland voters.

Questions about how they will pay for their promises "are not being asked of them at this point," she said.

Miller said Ehrlich and Steele, who attracted a sizable Democratic vote four years ago, have kept their promises to make Maryland "a cleaner, safer, more prosperous place to live."

The Duncan-O'Malley battle rages!

When Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan travels to Baltimore today to announce that he's running for governor, two of the city's former mayors will be standing beside him.

State Comptroller William Donald Schaefer (D) and Kurt L. Schmoke (D), who have had tense relations over the years, will join together to endorse Duncan, who is running against Baltimore's current mayor, Martin O'Malley, in the Democratic primary next year.

Kapow-bang!