MD-Gov: Don't be Jealous!

[Kleine Scheiße]

Shocked that Ross managed to pull off such great fundraising numbers. Excited to vote for him in the primary!

[Kleine Scheiße]

Disappointing debate last night.

I have absolutely no idea how Baker is the frontrunner; Ervin did well and I like her but she’s not going to be able to convince the Democratic establishment this isn’t just a vanity run; Shea finally managed to articulate why he’s running (all too late); Ross came off like he’s been binging on clips of Swalwell for the past month and I’m less confident about voting for him.

Madaleno did really well, actually and I’m now considering voting for him; Vignarajah was cool but I’m too concerned about her residency scandal to want to give her the nomination and she’s hardly a convincing speaker; Jones came out of nowhere and really impressed me but I’m just not yet willing to go for a marginal candidate with zero presence outside of presidential elections — my vote could actualy count here; and Jealous, as always, did fine and is just a horrible fit for the state.

We have a lot of work to do. This bench is horribly ill-equipped to beat Hogan.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kamenetz while he was running, I’ll admit. Saw him at a forum event and he fumbled a question on education (“our graduates should leave school with two things: a job in hand, and a... a job in hand”). Watching the rest of the field a couple months later, though, I can’t help but think my initial perception of him as a competent if goofy administrator was wrong. He could’ve had a decent shot, looking back.

[Kleine Scheiße]

Sure, he’s a decently articulate candidate and he did a fine job as PG county executive, but he’s just so profoundly boring.

I’ve been attending candidate forums and debates here since they got started this election, before everyone picked their running mates, and he has shown up to them the least. He has done virtually nothing in terms of campaigning to clarify his brand to primary voters, and he heavily gives off the vibe that because he has so many high-profile Maryland Democratic machine endorsements, since he’s a decent speaker, he’s well educated and has credible, relevant experience in government... he is campaigning like he believes he’s already won the nomination. I’m assuming that his consultants don’t realize that he’s setting himself up to be called an arrogant bureaucrat in the general — even though he’d actually be a pretty competant governor. Try as I might, I can’t see this guy winning the general because he doesn’t inspire anyone and the attempt to paint him as a juggernaut is already exhausting some Democratic activists. If he wins the GE, it’ll be because of massive turnout that I just don’t foresee in Maryland. Not yet, at least.

The fact that I’ve been involved in this race to the extent I have and this is the first event I’ve actually seen him show up to is frightening. It’s literally exactly how Anthony Brown acted during the 2014 primary, except back then, Gansler and Mizeur were willing to call him on it. He’s going to be linked to the deeply unpopular O’Malley — who is still being campaigned against — in an irrevocable way right out of the gate just like Brown was.

The way to win Maryland in 2018 is to massively increase Baltimore city turnout and flip Baltimore county to the Democrats, and people from PG county and that area of the state more generally are notoriously confused about how to break through to Baltimore. Baker is no exception to this.

[Kleine Scheiße]

Just voted. At the precinct, they had a ton of campaign signs, but the only Democratic candidate with any signs was Baker. I was surprised. Just an anecdote.

(Kamenetz had a campaign presence up here in Harford County too, before he died)

This was my experience also, exactly, also being in Harford County. Early voted in Edgewood and it was packed, tons of signs.

[Kleine Scheiße]

I’m doubly motivated to vote for Jealous now.

[Kleine Scheiße]

God, that criminal justice plan...

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A vote for Hogan is a vote against harm reduction. A vote for Jealous is a vote for restoring community trust in policing.

[Kleine Scheiße]

lol

Target only expanded into Canada in 2011, by the way. Zero presence in South America.