Maryland Voters

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

I don't think people in Maryland see O'Malley as a joke at all.  He has fairly high approval ratings; not stellar, but probably better than most Governors and certainly not in any political danger.

However, O'Malley will be faced with some politically unpopular choices this year.  He is probably going to have to raise taxes, approve slots, and make some spending cuts due to a structural budget deficit.   This past year, he mostly delayed making the tough fiscal choices and instead focused on a (failed) push to overturn the death penalty.  But most of the legislation signed by O'Malley so far has been pretty popular.   

It was Ehrlich, not O'Malley, who is to blame for permitting the spike in energy prices.   My impression was that there wasn't much O'Malley could have done about this.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Generally, the small counties in Maryland are pretty strongly Republican.  The medium-sized counties (Anne Arundel, Howard, Charles) are swing counties.  The largest counties (except for Baltimore County, a swing county) are heavily Democratic. 

All states have some mix of Democratic and Republican voters.  But the mix in MD tilts strongly toward the Dems.  It is clearly one of the most Democratic states in the country.  The state legislature is almost 3/4 Dem in both houses, largely due to the fact that every single legislator in Montgomery, PG, and Baltimore City are Democrats.   These legislators alone are almost enough to constitute a majority (22 out of 47 state senate seats).