The Cox Factor
Ehrlich picked Kristen Cox as his running mate.
Big surprise. It had been brewing in the rumor mill for weeks.
Because its been around, The League sees no need to repeat the conventional wisdom: Cox, the cabinet-level leader of the state's disability services who is herself legally blind, adds a few benefits to Ehrlich's ticket. For instance, launching a fierce political attack against a blind woman has alot of potential to backfire. Oh, and then there's the boosting of Ehrlich's "compassionate conservatism" (why he would want to associate himself with anything the public considers Bush-esque in a state where the President enjoys the approval of only one-third of the public, I dunno). Plus, selecting a woman helps him with female voters.
OK, so we repeated the conventional wisdom. But we've also got something to add: Cox lives in Baltimore County. At first glance, this seems to be a disadvantage. Ehrlich is as Baltimore County as one can get, so putting another Bawlmore-area suburbanite doesn't really give geographic balance to the ticket as his choice of PG County's Michael Steele did in 2002. But Ehrlich doesn't need that geographic balance; he knows he's not getting anything out of the DC suburbs this time round. What he needs is to keep hold on Baltimore County. Unfortunately for him, his Democratic opponent Martin O'Malley's popularity extends into from the city where he's mayor into the burbs. So Ehrlich's choice of Cox is one more attempt in the struggle to hold onto Baltimore County, an area that was essential to his win in 2002.
Of course, nobody's going to vote on where the running mate lives.
Now here's our criticism. Nice and fresh. Cox is from Utah. She isn't a native Marylander. Of course, it speaks highly of her intellect that she'd choose to move to the best state in the nation, but it also suggests she may not know the state as intimately as a homegrown candidate.
from The League: Reassembled The Only Maryland Politics Blog from Straight Outta Moldova!
Big surprise. It had been brewing in the rumor mill for weeks.
Because its been around, The League sees no need to repeat the conventional wisdom: Cox, the cabinet-level leader of the state's disability services who is herself legally blind, adds a few benefits to Ehrlich's ticket. For instance, launching a fierce political attack against a blind woman has alot of potential to backfire. Oh, and then there's the boosting of Ehrlich's "compassionate conservatism" (why he would want to associate himself with anything the public considers Bush-esque in a state where the President enjoys the approval of only one-third of the public, I dunno). Plus, selecting a woman helps him with female voters.
OK, so we repeated the conventional wisdom. But we've also got something to add: Cox lives in Baltimore County. At first glance, this seems to be a disadvantage. Ehrlich is as Baltimore County as one can get, so putting another Bawlmore-area suburbanite doesn't really give geographic balance to the ticket as his choice of PG County's Michael Steele did in 2002. But Ehrlich doesn't need that geographic balance; he knows he's not getting anything out of the DC suburbs this time round. What he needs is to keep hold on Baltimore County. Unfortunately for him, his Democratic opponent Martin O'Malley's popularity extends into from the city where he's mayor into the burbs. So Ehrlich's choice of Cox is one more attempt in the struggle to hold onto Baltimore County, an area that was essential to his win in 2002.
Of course, nobody's going to vote on where the running mate lives.
Now here's our criticism. Nice and fresh. Cox is from Utah. She isn't a native Marylander. Of course, it speaks highly of her intellect that she'd choose to move to the best state in the nation, but it also suggests she may not know the state as intimately as a homegrown candidate.
from The League: Reassembled The Only Maryland Politics Blog from Straight Outta Moldova!
posted by The League: Reassembled at 11:50 AM
3 Comments:
About the whole "women will vote for the ticket because of Cox" thing. I know women voters tend to vote for women candidates. But I think that's because women find women more likeable than, say, moderately unattractive former frat boys with toupee-style haircuts. And Ehrlich's likability isn't a problem. That post poll had him rated fairly high personally. Where the voters have a problem is with his competence on the issues and his governing style. (66% of Marylanders say he doesn't pay enough attention to the teachers... etc.... etc.....)
I think Cox is bringing a lot less to the ticket than people think she is. A few votes in the disabled community. Maybe some moderate - conservative Democratic women. Meanwhile, Anthony Brown (in addition to being a seriously competent guy) is going to bring along a HUGE African-American turnout.
About the whole "women will vote for the ticket because of Cox" thing. I know women voters tend to vote for women candidates. But I think that's because women find women more likeable than, say, moderately unattractive former frat boys with toupee-style haircuts. And Ehrlich's likability isn't a problem. That post poll had him rated fairly high personally. Where the voters have a problem is with his competence on the issues and his governing style. (66% of Marylanders say he doesn't pay enough attention to the teachers... etc.... etc.....)
I think Cox is bringing a lot less to the ticket than people think she is. A few votes in the disabled community. Maybe some moderate - conservative Democratic women. Meanwhile, Anthony Brown (in addition to being a seriously competent guy) is going to bring along a HUGE African-American turnout.
I don't know much about Cox, so this really isn't about her, but at 36, is Ehrlich really telling us that he thinks that she's the most experienced, capable person to run the state of Maryland if he quits, etc.?
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