Wednesday, December 12, 2012
It's a no-go for Franchot. Who should step in?
Comptroller Peter Franchot, who was expected to run for governor in 2014, announced Tuesday he would not seek the post. Franchot, whose criticism of Gov. Martin O’Malley led many to believe he would run, instead announced he would seek to retain his current position. But just because Franchot won’t run, doesn’t mean there won’t be a crowded primary field. Other Democrats who may seek the office include Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Del. Heather Mizeur, Attorney General Doug Gansler and Howard County Executive Ken Ulman. What Democrat would you like to see make a run for the state’s top office? Tell us why in comments.
Monday, December 3, 2012
The holiday visions in our heads probably still have more to do with sugar plums than Scrooge, so let's hold that thought for a few more days.
Montgomery County may have gotten a whole new political season for Christmas, considering what looked like an unofficial announcement last week. Below are the details, as well as the rest of the week's highlights in our continuing investigation into life in these 500 square miles. You'd think we would have gotten a call back considering the newsworthiness of the information, but we'll stick with the evidence we did get. According to an email sent to supporters, former county executive Doug Duncan is set to vie for that office again, after a six-year hiatus. “I am not seeking to return to the County Executive office simply because it is winnable—I am returning because I have so much energy for the job and know that Montgomery County is …
Friday, November 30, 2012
State attorney general gives the go ahead.
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Friday, November 30, 2012
By DANA AMIHERE Capital News Service An opinion released Thursday by the Maryland attorney general’s office said that same-sex couples can obtain marriage licenses as soon as Gov. Martin O’Malley “formally proclaims” the results of the November election, which he is expected to do on or about Dec. 6. The law, and therefore the licenses, will not be effective until Jan. 1. Attorney General Douglas Gansler answered other questions about the implementation of Maryland's same-sex marriage law in a 19-page opinion. Gansler and Chief Counsel Adam Snyder found that postdating the licenses’ effective date doesn’t impose an unconstitutional waiting period on same-sex couples because it’s the ceremony, not the license, that validates the marriage…
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
A wide-open field is beginning to form, including some familiar names.
In politics, the campaign season—and the speculation about the next election—never ends. It just stops for a brief intermission. We call that Election Day. With 2012 in the rear view and 2014 shaping up to be a wide-open race for Montgomery County Executive, candidates—and potential candidates—are gearing up. The early race hit a higher gear on Wednesday as Patch’s Sebastian Montes reported that Douglas M. Duncan, a Democrat, is telling supporters that he will run to reclaim the County Executive post he held from 1994 to 2006. Other familiar names could be on the primary ballot. County Councilman George L. Leventhal (D-At large) of Takoma Park held a 50th birthday party fundraiser last week to support his run for County Executive, The …
One of Montgomery's dominant political figures set to return to the political stage after six years.
After months of strategizing, Douglas M. Duncan has told supporters he has decided to run for an unprecedented fourth term in Montgomery County's highest political office, marking his return to politics after a six year-hiatus. Duncan, 57, met privately yesterday morning with political advisers and supporters in Gaithersburg to discuss his run for county executive and weigh the results of a recent poll by Harrison Hickman, the pollster for Al Gore and John Edwards' presidential bids. At the end of the meeting, Duncan told attendees that he would be entering the 2014 race, according to an email sent yesterday afternoon to supporters. “I am not seeking to return to the County Executive office simply because it is winnable—I am returning …
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Former County Executive Doug Duncan met today with pollster and political advisers, according to CenterMaryland.org.
Will Doug Duncan—Montgomery’s longest-serving county executive—return for a run at an unprecedented fourth term? Duncan's political future came into clearer focus Tuesday after he met with advisers in Gaithersburg to mull the 2014 election, Josh Kurtz writes in CenterMaryland.org. The closed meeting hashed over the results of a new poll “that supposedly showed Duncan handily defeating every other potential Democratic candidate,” according to Kurtz. Speculation has long swirled that Duncan—who served as Montgomery’s executive from 1994 to 2006 before a gubernatorial campaign that ended with him dropping out, citing clinical depression—is primed for a return to county politics. If so, he would be joining a field that already has two …
Monday, November 26, 2012
Bartlett said gerrymandering cost him the congressional election but the numbers tell a different story.
Capital News Service Congressman-elect John Delaney won Maryland's 6th District race on Election Day with the support of heavily Democratic Montgomery County, as expected, but a surprising number of Western Maryland voters voted to oust long-time incumbent Roscoe Bartlett, an analysis of the numbers shows. Now, those voters expect Delaney to champion their causes. Delaney campaigned by saying he was determined not to "balkanize the district"—splitting it into subgroups that could be targeted with tailored messages. That strategy appears to have paid off. Though the scant polling of the matchup showed Bartlett and Delaney tied throughout the fall, Delaney's 20-point win revealed the Democrat had more bipartisan appeal than any of Bartlett's…
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Online petitions to secede surround the Free State.
An apparent wave of post-election discontent has found its way online in the form of tens of thousands of people protesting the outcome of the presidential election by stoking the specter of secession. Maryland isn't among the states represented but all four of its neighbors are. Disgruntled residents from dozens of states—from California to New Hampshire and Texas to Florida—are using the Internet to try to invoke their First Amendment right to “petition the government for redress of grievances” by asking the White House to allow their state to withdraw from the Union. The White House's “We the People” program says the administration will respond to any petition that receives 25,000 or more signatures within 30 days. Petitions that have…
Monday, November 12, 2012
Mayland voters narrowly approved Question 7 last week, but not before a lot of money was spent.
Groups with a stake in Maryland's referendum on expanded gambling spent more than $35 a vote during the 2012 campaign, according to an analysis by WTOP. Unofficial results from the Maryland Board of Elections show that 2,479,262 people cast a vote on Question 7, which asked residents whether they favored the introduction of table games to the state and the addition of a sixth casino in Prince George's County. The measure narrowly passed by a margin of 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent. But before the matter was decided, opponents and supporters undertook enormous advertising efforts to sway voters. Casino operators that stood to benefit—including MGM Resorts International, CBAC Gaming LLC, and The Peterson Companies—were pitted against casinos …
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Victors attribute the wins to Democratic Party dominance, among other factors.
Capital News Service A dominant state Democratic Party, a progressive electorate, a national trend toward socially liberal policies and the need for more revenue in tough economic times converged in Maryland to bring passage of same-sex marriage, in-state tuition for some illegal immigrants, expanded gambling and a gerrymandered political map, political observers say. All of Maryland's ballot initiatives passed on election night. "(Gov. Martin) O'Malley and the Democrats have complete control," said Blair Lee, political columnist at The Gazette newspapers. "The only (political) competition and conversation was among Democrats … the Republicans are almost now gone the way of the Whig Party in terms of influence and presence." In Maryland, …
Sufferin' Succotash
1:59 pm on Tuesday, January 1, 2013
"Out of control spending" seems to be the GOP's meme du jour. Better irrelevant arguments, please. more ›