The Sun Maryland Politics

• Andy Harris yet to shake primary threat

  Things have been looking up for Andy Harris this fall. The Republican lawmaker from Baltimore County has been steadily, if quietly, preparing for a high-profile rematch against Democrat Frank Kratovil, the freshman congressman from Maryland's (mostly) Eastern Shore district. For a variety of reasons, including the district's proximity to the [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 5:54pm EST
  by Paul West

• Marylanders make the scene at Obama's first state dinner

  Several prominent Marylanders made the guest list for the toughest ticket in Washington: tonight's first state dinner of President Barack Obama's administration, honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Among those on the list just released by the White House: Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings, an early Obama supporter, and his [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 6:22pm EST
  by Paul West

• O'Malley honored by magazine but title is in eye of beholder

  You may have heard already: Gov. Martin O’Malley has been named a “Public Official of the Year” by Governing magazine. It’s a national magazine with a circulation roughly equal to the population of Columbia, Md., but the publication's praise for the governor has generated quite a buzz. Not all [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 3:05pm EST
  by Laura Smitherman

• Ehrlich: Money not a problem in 2010

  Former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich raised $18 million for his unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2006. But if he seeks a rematch next year against incumbent Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley, he expects to collect considerably less. Ehrlich put a $10 million to $12 million price tag on it during an' [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 1:38pm EST
  by Paul West

• In The Sun Today: O'Malley works to balance budget again

  As state revenues have taken a nose dive along with the economy, Gov. Martin O'Malley has been forced repeatedly to find ways to keep the state operating budget in balance. He brought more than $360 million in budget measures on Wednesday to the Board of Public Works, which approved' [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 2:51pm EST
  by Laura Smitherman

• Maryland Republican Party rallies at convention, elects Scott as chair

  Maryland’s Republican Party, buoyed by GOP victories in nearby states, elected on Saturday a spunky, 73-year-old activist and politician as the new chairwoman who pledged to reunite the fractious organization and capitalize on what many see as a shifting national tide. Convention delegates voted overwhelmingly to install Audrey E. Scott, [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 2:04pm EST
  by Laura Smitherman

• Cummings' part in Baltimore mayor's trial: Will he testify? Or not?

  At least one prominent Washington politician, President Barack Obama, has carefully kept his distance this year from Sheila Dixon, the indicted mayor of Baltimore. That hasn't been the case with many other public figures, including Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, who has appeared with Dixon at a number of public' [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 3:45pm EST
  by Paul West

• Democratic Party Chair has some "friendly" advice for Ehrlich

  For the second day in a row, Maryland Democrats are insisting they have nothing to worry about in next year’s elections. The latest comes from Democratic Party Chair Susan Turnbull, who is circulating a letter to former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich. (See yesterday's take from O'Malley campaign manager [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 2:45pm EST
  by Laura Smitherman

• Candidate Watch 2010: Redmer jumps into potentially crowded state Senate race

  The political season is blooming early in Baltimore County as another candidate has entered the race for the Maryland Senate seat being vacated by Republican Andrew P. Harris. Alfred W. Redmer Jr., the former Republican state delegate and insurance commissioner, is holding a campaign kickoff rally tonight [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 5:50pm EST
  by Laura Smitherman

• GOP victories no bad omen, O'Malley campaign manager writes

  Do Republican victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races portend trouble for Gov. Martin O’Malley? Nah, that’s just Republican spin, campaign manager Tom Russell wrote in a memo dated today to fiance committee members. “While last week's election returns were discouraging nationally, we at the O'Malley-Brown campaign' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 3:30pm EST
  by Laura Smitherman

• Mikulski's new campaign manager meets Baltimore County Dems

  Simone Ward, newly hired campaign manager for Barbara Mikulski's 2010 re-election campaign, is on the program at tonight's Central Baltimore County Democratic Club meeting in Towson. Ward, one of the first African-American women to run a major statewide campaign in Maryland, was added to the Mikulski campaign payroll last month. She [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 6:48pm EST
  by Paul West

• Mikulski's on her feet again, and in the game

  Maryland Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski proclaimed it a "great day" for the world and a "very special day" for herself, not necessarily in that order. Either way, it looked like good news for Democrats, which is something of a turnabout after last week's elections, which gave Republicans something to [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 11:41am EST
  by Paul West

• Kratovil a "No" on health care

  Frank Kratovil made it official today: he'll vote against the Democratic health care plan in the House this weekend. The freshman Democrat from the Eastern Shore, facing one of the toughest re-election fights in the country next year, released a statement declaring his opposition to the measure. His stance could' [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 11:21am EST
  by Paul West

• Long wait about over for Baltimore judge

  It's been nine years since federal Judge Andre Davis of Baltimore was first nominated to fill the "Maryland seat" on the federal Court of Appeals. It's been seven months since President Barack Obama re-nominated Davis for the same position--which has remained vacant, thanks to political stalemate in Washington, since [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 10:38am EST
  by Paul West

• Poll shows O'Malley may be vulnerable; devil's in the details

  Gov. Martin O’Malley would best former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich in a poll about a hypothetical rematch in 2010, but the sitting governor still may be vulnerable, according to pollsters at Clarus Research Group. How did they come to that conclusion? Several layers of data provide the answer. First of [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 3:30pm EST
  by Laura Smitherman

• Obama, Mikulski still score high in Maryland

  Republican renaissance? What Republican renaissance? In Maryland, at least, national Democrats are still riding high. According to a new statewide poll, Barbara A. Mikulski heads into the 2010 mid-term election with her status intact as Maryland's most popular politician. The survey, by Clarus Research Group of Washington, showed the Democratic [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 12:10pm EST
  by Paul West

• Pappas drops gubernatorial bid and backs Hogan

  Mike Pappas, the first Republican brave enough to wade into the 2010 gubernatorial contest in Maryland, is dropping out and throwing his support behind Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. Nearly a year after Pappas declared he was “in it to win it,” he’s now saying he’s in it for Hogan. “I’m [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 4:01pm EST
  by Laura Smitherman

• Former state delegate Jean Cryor dead at 70

  Heard the news from the statement from Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and Council President Phil Andrews: “Montgomery County has suffered a terrible loss. “Jean Cryor served the people of the County in several capacities – as a local journalist, a State Delegate, and as a member of [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 7:27pm EST
  by David Nitkin

• Annapolis alderman plans complaint over homophobic campaign fliers

  A candidate for Annapolis alderman says he will file a complaint with the state Attorney General’s office after an anonymous racist and homophobic flier criticizing his candidacy began circulating last weekend. The flier, addressed to the “Friends and Supporters of Black Annapolis,” was distributed in public housing developments in Ward [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 6:07pm EST
  by David Nitkin

• O’Malley moonlighting again... still not getting paid

  Annapolis is technically Gov. Martin O’Malley’s stage. Now the state’s capital will literally serve as his stage when his Irish folk rock band plays two concerts at the popular Ram’s Head watering hole/restaurant there next month. Tickets to see O’Malley’s March play an afternoon or evening show on Sunday, [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  by Laura Smitherman

• Steele for president in 2012? Yes, he might

  Updated If Republican candidates roll to big victories in today's elections, it could move at least one Republican closer to a 2012 presidential run: National Party Chairman Michael S. Steele. For some time, the former Maryland lieutenant governor has been open to a presidential try. The scuttlebutt from folks' [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 1:28pm EST
  by Paul West

• In The Sun Today: tools, statues, slots venues

  State and local elected officials react to the troubling news that Black & Decker was purchased Monday by Stanley tools of Connecticut, which is where the combined company will be located. "Having the worldwide headquarters of Black & Decker here in Towson has long been a point of" [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:21am EST
  by Julie Bykowicz