Saturday, August 26, 2006

Perez Out

In a move certain to shake up the Attorney General’s race, Maryland’s highest court ruled that Montgomery County Councilman Tom Perez is not eligible to run to be the state's lead prosecutor.

The Sun has lots of folks spinning the decision, but we'll have to see whether the decision helps Simms or Gansler.
Geography has loomed large in the race from the start. Baltimore lawyers have had a lock on the attorney general's office for decades, and many in the Montgomery County political community thought it was time for one of their own to take the job. But with two of them in the race, the conventional wisdom held that a solid candidate from Baltimore -- particularly an African-American -- could sweep in and win.

And as folks in Montgomery County wonder what will become of Perez, an email from George Leventhal reminds activists that Stephen Abrams, the Republican Schol Board member who pushed the lawsuit, is up for reelection in 2008.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

With Perez out, I have a hard time seeing Simms winning. According to the recent campaign finance reports, Gansler has a 20-1 advantage in cash on hand over Simms, plus a campaign organization that existed prior to Duncan's departure from the governor's race.

I might be wrong - been wrong before, will be again - but Without a split in the Montgomery County Democratic voting base, I would be willing to bet hard money on Gansler. Simms barely has the cash for one media buy, and in Baltimore we are getting Gansler-ed big-time on TV.

8/26/2006 10:29:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree w/ your assessment of a MoCo split not helping Simms and the prep of Gansler's team will be efective, but the deeper situation is that a lot of folks in MoCo think Gansler's a bit too slick. With Perez endorsing Simms and Simms' long experience, I wouldn't be surprised if he did something. We'll see.

8/30/2006 10:05:00 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home