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Progressive Maryland and the Maryland NAACP confronted Rep. Bartlett in what seems like a rare show of grassroots activism in western Maryland yesterday. Although the Dem nominee Andrew Duck is a bit of a longshot, it makes it a bit more interesting and after Al Wynn’s recent near-defeat, anything is possible in the anti-incumbent mood of today.
Have you thought about Scott Rolle lately? He’s the ambitious Frederick County state's attorney who challenged Bartlett from the right for the western Maryland seat in Congress two years ago. Now Rolle is running a quixotic campaign for attorney general against Doug Gansler. No one gives Rolle much chance of actually winning, but I guess if it gets him back in the good graces of the Republican establishment (Ehrlich has been saying nice things about him and apparently Bartlett gave him several thousand earlier this year) by improving turnout in the more conservative counties in the west, then he’ll have smooth sailing when the 80 year old Bartlett decides to retire.
Many Maryland progressives have to sit with me in the corner because we largely sat out Donna Edwards' challenge to Al Wynn, thinking she wouldn't get close (even though we knew he was vulnerable). So, so as not to let this happen again, I thought I should look closely at the two Republican Members of Congress from Maryland -- Bartlett and Wayne Gilchrest from the Eastern Shore to decide whether Democrats should be focusing on helping their opponents before that November Tuesday. Anyone know anything interesting about the incumbents or their challengers?
Have you thought about Scott Rolle lately? He’s the ambitious Frederick County state's attorney who challenged Bartlett from the right for the western Maryland seat in Congress two years ago. Now Rolle is running a quixotic campaign for attorney general against Doug Gansler. No one gives Rolle much chance of actually winning, but I guess if it gets him back in the good graces of the Republican establishment (Ehrlich has been saying nice things about him and apparently Bartlett gave him several thousand earlier this year) by improving turnout in the more conservative counties in the west, then he’ll have smooth sailing when the 80 year old Bartlett decides to retire.
Many Maryland progressives have to sit with me in the corner because we largely sat out Donna Edwards' challenge to Al Wynn, thinking she wouldn't get close (even though we knew he was vulnerable). So, so as not to let this happen again, I thought I should look closely at the two Republican Members of Congress from Maryland -- Bartlett and Wayne Gilchrest from the Eastern Shore to decide whether Democrats should be focusing on helping their opponents before that November Tuesday. Anyone know anything interesting about the incumbents or their challengers?
posted by OnBackground at 5:20 PM
5 Comments:
Didn't Tom McMillan, the former Maryland and NBA basketball player, represent the Eastern Shore for a while, before being beaten by Gilchrist? I'm pretty sure he did.
McMillen represented the old 4th district, with most of AA and parts of PG and Howard in it. Schaefer had to redistrict for the 1992 campaign and he chose a map which broke up AA county into several districts and left Helen Bentley's second district protected. The Assembly favored gutting the 2nd and forcing Bentley to run against Gilchrist, but Schaefer protected his friend and his region over party.
McMillen was forced into Gilchrist's district and lost.
BTW, I think it would be easier to find a conservative Dem to run against Gilchrist than to find any Dem who could wing the sixth.
For more info on long-gone or even current pols, check out http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MD/plindex.html
Bartlett may not look vunerable, but before he held MD-06 it was in Democratic hands for over 30 years.
I blogged a bit about Andrew Duck and Rep. Bartlett today over @ kujanblog. Check it out.
The national strategists over at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee think Duck has a chance. They are going to be directing more resources (primarily in the form of volunteers) towards the 6D race than have gone towards defeating Bartlett in the past.
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