Focus shifts to the top two races
2006-09-18
Source: Baltimore Sun
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rss feedWith the subplots of last week's primary election fading and the clutter of campaign signs for failed candidates thinning, Maryland is focusing its political energies on the main event: races for governor and U.S. Senate that could shape state politics for years to come.
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, who is challenging him, have been itching for this fight for four years. And both national political parties are poised to pounce on the race between Democratic Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin and Republican Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, which could help determine which party controls Congress.
Ehrlich's quest to be the first Republican governor to be re-elected in Maryland in a half-century rests on his ability to persuade voters that he has changed the state for the better and that O'Malley hasn't done the same for Baltimore.
O'Malley's strategy for taking back the governor's mansion for Democrats centers on his claim that he has moved the city forward while Ehrlich has blocked progress at every turn.
Cardin, a seasoned legislator from Baltimore County, wants voters to see him as the man to stand up to President Bush in the Senate.
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