Soccer Dad

Ehrlich closing?

Not surprisingly the Baltimore Sun didn't show the same intellectual honesty that the Washington Post did and endorsed Mayor O'Malley for governor. The first few sentences of the final paragraph beg for a response.

Mr. Ehrlich wants voters to believe he would have accomplished much more if only the Democrats in the General Assembly had not thwarted him at every turn. But that's not much of an excuse for the inertia of the last four years. Governors from California to Virginia have overcome such political barriers. They show flexibility, build coalitions and strike compromises.

Why could Warner in Virginia work with his legislature and not Ehrlich? Three words: veto proof majority. The legislature didn't work Gov. Ehrlich because it didn't have to. The flurry of bills passed and vetoes overridden at the beginning of the most recent legislative session is a testament to the out of control General Assembly. What's more three of the overrides were subsequently reversed by the courts. What Maryland has is an arrogant legislature, certain of its power and unwilling to bend. As Governor Ehrlich has presided over a growing economy in which more people are employed and fewer are unemployed than four years ago the General Assembly has overridden vetoes that threaten that growth. Having a Govenor who operates with the same economic ignorance as the general assembly will endanger that growth.

Despite the endorsement, the Sun reported that its latest polls showed that Governor Ehrlich had closed to within one point of Mayor O'Malley. Unfortunately the paper's reporters couldn't resist a little bit of politicking for the mayor as Maryland Conservatarian notes.

The Baltimore Sun continues to justify my claim that it is the worst big-city newspaper in America.Today, they report that here in Maryland, the Governor’s race is a tossup.
“The Maryland governor's race is a virtual tie less than a week before Election Day, as Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s relentless attacks on Mayor Martin O'Malley's record on crime and schools have eroded the Democrat's support in the Baltimore suburbs, a new poll for The Sun shows.”

I’m guessing the Sun is just PO’ed because their own relentless attacks on Governor Ehrlich apparently aren’t as effective as the ones they highlight the Governor is making on Mayor O’Malley.

It's not like O'Malley isn't running a negative campaign. It's also odd that the Sun would bring up the negative ads when in the past week or so Ehrlich's been featuring ads touting his accomplishments. Ehrlich is running on his record; even if the Sun won't acknowledge it.

(Crablaw makes an interesting observation. I think what he's getting at is this: Is Steele having success with African-Americans that is having a negative effect on Ehrlich?)

Real Clear Politics is encouraged but notes that 2006 has challenges that 2002 didn't have. More coverage here.

In general Free State Politics offers his endorsements and predictions. And Monoblogue has his rundown of the issues in the Gubernatorial and Senate races.

Technorati tags: Robert Ehrlich, Martin O'Malley.