Gazette Picks Cardin, Owens and Gansler

The Gazette has endorsed Ben Cardin for the Senate, Janet Owens for Comptroller and Doug Gansler for Attorney General. Cardin gets plaudits for being a workhouse, not a showhorse, who has remained focused on Maryland. The Gazette compliments Kweisi Mfume for his rise from "tough beginnings" but criticized for having too much of a national focus.

The Gazette dissed both incumbent Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, who is characterized as "embarrassing", and Montgomery Del. Peter Franchot, who is described as a "gadfly" who would use the office to showboat rather than focus on the duties of the office. Owens wins the nod because of her executive experience and "independent and sensible" approach to money management.

In contrast, the editorial board of the Gazette plumps for the local boy in the race for attorney general, describing him as having an impressive record of accomplishment as Montgomery State's Attorney despite a tendency towards grandstanding. In contrast, they view Councilman Tom Perez as having an undistinguished record as a councilman and former Baltimore State's Attorney Stuart Simms as not having his heart in the race due to his first having sought the office of lieutenant governor on Doug Duncan's ticket.

The consistent thread in the Gazette's endorsements is that they selected the more moderate candidate. Gansler is running as an aggressive prosecutor. Owens is clearly more conservative than Franchot though she hasn't gone over to the other side like Schaefer. Cardin is a liberal by any rational measure but less left-wing than Mfume.

Oh, the Gazette also went out on a limb and endorsed Chris Van Hollen over gadfly Deborah Vollmer and Al Wynn for reelection over more serious challenger Donna Edwards. Edwards is doing what a good challenger does: press the incumbent hard to defend his record in Congress. Since the general election will undoubtedly be a cakewalk, it's great that the voters will have a real choice in the primary.

Politics in Prince George's is played a higher division than in Montgomery. However, while I always knew that politics was a blood sport in Prince George's, I didn't mean it literally until I heard about the post-debate fight after the Wynn-Edwards debate in Largo.