More about Governors races in Virginia and Maryland

Flickr photo via Fraser Gallery.

Yesterday's Richmond Times-Dispatch has polling results "Race for governor is 'total tossup' / Kilgore's 2-point lead falls within the poll's margin of error, and 9 percent remain undecided," and the Post editorialized in favor of the Democratic candidate for governor, Tim Kaine, in "Our Choices in Virginia."

In the damning with faint praise department, interestingly enough, the Post editorial says this about Kaine:

Possessed of an agile, incisive mind and slightly allergic to the allure of sound-bite politics, Mr. Kaine is the kind of politician who is impressive in small groups but can fail to inspire on the campaign trail. A former city councilman and mayor of Richmond, he is a policy wonk in the best sense of the term -- probing, analytical and at ease with the broad implications of competing choices as well as the details of how government works.

whereas I do think that "wonks" can make compelling cases on issues with convincing, knowledgeable, and passionate arguments with great success (unless maybe everybody who's ever heard me speak has actually been bored to tears). (This is one of my big problems with the Democratic campaigns at the national level--talk about sucking out any possible drop of passion...)

Also see this Reuters story about Gov. Mark Warner and the coat-tail effect, "Virginia incumbent lends a hand in governor's race: Popular Democrat helps lieutenant fight GOP challenge."

In the more about "politics makes strange bedfellows" camp about the Duncan campaign for governor in Maryland, Dan Roderick has this great column in yesterday's Baltimore Sun, "Duncan's campaign gets all cranked up" about how having William Donald Schaefer and Kurt Schmoke in your camp isn't necessarily a good thing... From the column:

It's great that Duncan, the Montgomery County executive, will be challenging O'Malley for the Democratic nomination for governor. They're both appealing candidates, and it's good for our wobbly democratic process to have a real primary. I've heard people say that Duncan deserves to be taken seriously, and I was all over that -- until I saw him clutching hands with Schaefer and Schmoke. It's nothing short of amazing that Duncan got Schmoke and Schaefer to join him for the same photo op.

But, excuse me, I don't see how this elevates Duncan's candidacy in the Baltimore voter market. Schaefer's support of Duncan is based on Schaefer's dislike of O'Malley, which is a form of dislike very similar o the strain that infected Schaefer back when Kurt Schmoke was mayor.

Schaefer disliked Schmoke, and not just because Schmoke had supported Schaefer's primary opponent, Steve Sachs, in the 1986 gubernatorial election. He disliked Schmoke because Schmoke was Rhodes Scholar-bright, interesting and promising, and people made a fuss over him. Schaefer didn't like anyone making a fuss over anyone but him. As governor, he skipped Schmoke's mayoral inaugural in 1987, and the relationship got worse after that. For years, Schaefer grumbled about how Schmoke was ruining Baltimore, and Schmoke's defenders countered that Schaefer, despite his press clippings, had left the city in a mess.

O'Malley came along in 1999. He quickly upstaged Schmoke -- it didn't take much -- and committed some slight -- it didn't take much -- against Schaefer. By late-summer 2000, Schaefer was whining about O'Malley ignoring him...

Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, center surrounded by reporters, speaks after formally announcing his candidacy for governor, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005, outside his boyhood home in Rockville, Md. (AP Photo/Matthew S. Gunby).

Note to the Think DC PAC that produced the "Think Cropp" signs. (See the City Paper's Loose Lips column about Maurice Daniel): the Duncan sign that says "Think Bigger."