2010 Elections Again...The Primary Elections Etc. ~ Annapolis Capital Punishment
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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

2010 Elections Again...The Primary Elections Etc.

So now it's on to the general! In the Annapolis/Anne Arundel County environs, of course the big item of interest remains the razor-thin victory, at least until absentee votes are counted, that puts challenger Chris Trumbauer ahead of incumbent Chuck Ferrar in the county council's Sixth District. This might be described by some as an upset. Ferrar had the power of incumbency, beaucoup endorsements, decades worth of goodwill from his business customers and others and the strong support of African American voters and leaders. Trumbauer also had many endorsements and the strong backing of Annapolis Mayor Josh Cohen but conventional "wisdom" at least as was made known to ACP by many prognosticators, was wrong. The official count as of Wednesday morning had Trumbauer with 3143 or 50.52% and Ferrar with 3078 or 49.48%. The winner will go against Republican Doug Burkhardt, and I am just speculating, but he might be relieved if his opponent will be the more liberal Trumbauer rather than Ferrar, who has attracted Republican and more conservative supporters. From what I understand, there are probably not enough provisional or absentee ballots to change the outcome which should be known on Thursday, but please...I cannot say this for sure at this time.

County Executive John Leopold will of course be challenged by Democrat Joanna Conti, and they each received almost the exact same number of votes yesterday. Also in the race but not in the primary is Mike Shay of the Green Party. The big question looming is whether the allegations and charges of sexual harassment brought against Leopold will cost him the election. The state's highest ranking Republican remains a fairly popular, though somewhat unusual figure.

In The Congressional races....District Three including the Eastern Shore, a portion of Anne Arundel and areas north of Baltimore...Republican Jim Wilhelm of Annapolis scored a big victory to propel him to challenge incumbent Democrat John Sarbanes. Although Wilhelm was well ahead of his opponents, he still only amassed about one-third of the votes the unopposed Sarbanes got Tuesday. It will likely be an uphill and very difficult battle for Wilhelm in the convoluted Third which winds from north of Baltimore through Howard and Anne Arundel County in to Annapolis. 

I found this race interesting, mainly because it was so hard to find out about other candidates. The profoundly conservative Greg Bartosz who was active online and with social media but otherwise repeatedly ignored inquiries from this reporter, used his website to blast Wilhelm saying he expected him to drop out of the race. He never explained why but when I wrote about it, he removed the reference. As of Wednesday morning, Bartosz' site continued to have this to say about his opponents:
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"Thomas Defibaugh Sr.: NO information can be found about this candidate or his positions other than his previous party affiliation. From July 13, 2009 to March 29, 2010, Mr. Defibaugh had officially filed as a Democrat Candidate in the 5th District with the Maryland Election Office. On the same day Mr. Defibaugh withdrew from the 5th District Democratic Primary, he filed to run in the 3rd District Republican Primary? I can find no explanation as to why this person made such a drastic change OR why he is running.



Thomas “Pinkston” Harris: According to his website, he apparently has no Position on any issue. Note: His website has since been taken down.


PLEASE TAKE NOTE: Thomas “Pinkston” Harris is NOT Dr. Andy Harris who is running for Congress in the 1st District!!! It has been speculated that many people made this mistake in the last election and voted for Thomas “Pinkston” Harris when they thought they were voting for Dr. Andy Harris. This was to be expected as our Representatives have gerrymandered our Congressional Districts to the point of idiocy. Mr. Thomas “Pinkston” Harris won the Republican primary and was then DESTROYED by Sarbanes in the general election!! While I applaud Mr. Harris’ efforts, history has shown that he CANNOT beat Sarbanes and his inclusion in this race is a dangerous distraction for the Citizens of Maryland's 1st AND 3rd Districts. Please make sure that your friends and family know this fact and vote accordingly. "
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Final figures in that race? Wilhelm got over 38%, Harris in second with 29% and in third was Bartosz with just under 24%. I wonder if he still thinks Wilhelm is dropping out or if he still applauds Mr. Harris but thinks "his inclusion in this race is a dangerous distraction." I do agree with him about the gerrymandering but as far as the use of the word "idiocy"...well....

As expected, Republican State Senator Andy Harris won in the First, but the challenge by Robb Fisher who poured in his own money, got about 34% of the vote to Harris' 66%, may have caused Harris some concern. Harris will challenge Incumbent Congressman Frank Kratovil. The national parties will watch this carefully. Very carefully.  Independent Jack Wilson is mounting a write-in campaign and Libertarian James Richard Davis is running as well. In 2008, when Kratovil narrowly defeated Harris, a Libertarian in the race grabbed a few percentage points.

In Maryland's Fifth, the portion of southern Anne Arundel County and much of southern Maryland which is home to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Charles Lollar prevailed handily over his Republican challengers with 60% in a four-way race. This African American who appears allied with the Tea Party has run an effective campaign and attracted a lot of support and there is no telling how far this anti-Democrat, anti-incumbency mood may go, but Lollar is riding that wave. I think this race will definitely garner a lot of attention.

In the state's District 30 House of Delegates Democratic match, Speaker Mike Busch and longtime incumbent Virginia Clagett were about tied in first and second. Newcomer and DC politico-insider Judd Legum came in a distant third. On the R side, incumbent Ron George was the clear winner with almost 38% and former Delegate Herb McMillan who bills himself as "Ehrlich's choice" was second followed by newcomer Seth Howard. George and Bush were about tied for overall votes, so one might prognosticate that unless there is a wave of anti-incumbency or anti-Democratic fervor, the three incumbents will likely be the strongest candidates in the general. Legum who worked for Hilary Clinton, will push hard to unseat George and go after McMillan, while George will likely focus on his record and McMillan will pound and pound Mike Busch.

In Maryland's 33rd in central-northern Anne Arundel County, a very heated and often negative race between a Republican delegate and the incumbent Republican senator has ended with the incumbent the clear winner. Ed Reilly trounced James King,  by about 52% to 41%. During this race, they each accused the other of not being the real conservative while of curse, propping up their own conservative credentials. King left what was probably a safe seat. Despite the sour tone of the race, King today said that "Ed Reilly has been a dedicated public servant and valuable member of this community for years, and I thank him for all of his efforts to improve the quality of life for area residents. I will do my part to support him and all of our elected officials moving forward in any way that I can."  Good. Let's hope they'll kiss and make up and let the voters decide who is the real conservative!

Look here for frequent updates to all the 2010 election campaigns with 2010 Elections Again! LISTEN TO CP Publisher Paul Foer on 1430WNAV at 8:15 every weekday morning or click on the WNAV icon to the right, press On demand and On The Foerfront to listen. READ CP Publisher Paul Foer's "The Ninth Ward" every Wednesday in The Capital at www.capitalonline.com Identified comments are always welcome. ALL ANONYMOUS COMMENTS will be automatically rejected without being opened.



5 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Kratovil need to be removed from office, He has a very in-experienced staff an WILL NOT personal meet with people over major issues. I have documentation of this, He does not fully represent all within this district. Patrick Bryan P.O. Box 704, Ridgely Md., 21660

Ira Rifkin said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Paul Foer said...

Mr Bryan Bring it on!

Anonymous said...

Actually in the District 6 County Council primary there are nearly 300 absentee ballots and somewhere in the vicinity of 100 provisionals - and every vote counts. It's still anyone's to win or lose....

Paul Foer said...

OKay....yes every vote counts BUT....let us suppose there are 400 total and say 50 provisionals are accepted making it 350. Ferrar is behind by 65. So, even if those votes go 60-40 for Ferrar, he comes up with 210 more votes and Trumbauer comes up with 140 more, meaning Ferrar ends up with 5 more than Trumbauer and wins...but he'll have to capture that 60-40 split to win by five...and if he gets one less vote and one more for Trumbauer that narrows the lead...in other words, Ferrar needs to get 208 of those 350 and Trumbauer gets 142 and ferrar wins by one...but yes, it could happen and we shall find out soon..(and was that other comment above really sent in by Ira Rifkin? I am not so sure...)

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