Posted on 10/09/2014 8:52:51 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The race for governor in deep-blue Maryland is much closer than expected, with analysts saying Democrat Anthony Brown is vulnerable because he tiptoed around the big issues and failed to make an argument for his election other than he’s next in line.
Mr. Brown, the two-term lieutenant governor, leads in polls but not by the double-digit spread he should enjoy in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1. His opponent, Republican businessman Larry Hogan, is suddenly showing momentum as voters give him a second look less than four weeks before the election.
“If Anthony Brown loses this election, he’s going to lose it because he didn’t give his followers any reason to believe he is anything but a nice guy who really wasn’t up to the job,” said Towson University professor Richard E. Vatz, who analyzes political rhetoric and Maryland political campaigns.
The perceived lack of enthusiasm for Mr. Brown has prompted comparison to former Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s failed run for governor in 2002. Her poor campaigning was blamed in part for Robert L. Ehrlich’s success in becoming the state’s first Republican governor since Spiro T. Agnew left office in 1969.
Mr. Vatz faulted the Brown campaign for avoiding the major issues in the state, including unpopular tax increases, stymied economic growth, high unemployment and the botched rollout of the state’s health care insurance exchange that the lieutenant governor was responsible for overseeing.
Instead, the Brown campaign has aired a series of TV ads that accuse Mr. Hogan of being anti-woman and wanting to put assault rifles in the hands of criminals.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
I talked to a friend who knows Anthony Brown.
The assessment? He is an empty suit.
Not wasting my money there anymore.
Not going to happen.
Brown’s ads are terrible. They present nothing at all about what Brown promises to do for Maryland; they merely attack Hogan for his (unfortunately merely) personal objections to abortion, and adherence to the Constitution vis a vis the 2nd amendment. The latter issue may sting a little in a gun-grabber state, but I think even Maryland voters are wondering why Hogan’s (mere) distate for abortion is relevant.
With the way these polls are going, there will be some unexpected surprises on election day.
I’d like to be wrong, but I doubt it.
On top of being a Dem in MD, he’s a black. All the blacks - there are many - will show up to vote him in. Just like the Uhbama elections.
Brown just comes across as dimwitted and incapable if independent thought. The “assault weapons” ad is embarrassing in it’s stupidity and ignorance. It portrays an unattended ugly, scary black rifle leaning against a tree with some kids running by.
I suspect the ad was filmed out if state because one cannot purchase such a rifle here anymore thanks to the O’Malley-Brown administration and no self-respecting gun owner would lend their rifle to this clown for an anti-gun campaign ad.
Just like the Brown campaign van with Virginia license plates to save taxes.
Richard Vatz is normally clueless.
Somebody must have told him what is going on.
What bull. Hogan has no more chance than my cat to become governor. This year Anthony Brown is the dull, dully-named, and (most importantly) black Democrat Placeholder who will next be installed in the Mansion. He’s run the one obligatory TV commercial showing him with kids in the classroom and the narrator telling you that Hogan prefers “corporations” to education. Zzzzzz. After that, all it takes are the usual suspects — Balt. City & County, PG, AA and Howard Co. Every single other person in the state could vote Hogan and it would make no difference. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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