Deadline for Herman Taylor: Are You In or Out?

Editor: He is out. So you can stop reading here and go to the WaPo posting on it. Heck, enjoy my ever so thoughtful posting 2 hours prior to his withdrawal. ;)

Normally December is a quite time for us political types: time to do some holiday shopping, watch a football game in quite, catch your breath from a previous fall campaign, maybe even rake a few leaves. Not this year. Today is the deadline for the February 12th primary, so the State Board of Elections has been swamped with last minute filing deadlines, with 9:00 p.m. being the bewitching hour.

So besides candidates for President and their pledged delegates, there are deadlines for candidates to Congress. In our area, the big primary race is in Congressional District 4, which is a hybrid of Prince George's and Montgomery County. The incumbent, Albert Wynn, has drawn so far, four challengers: Donna Edwards. George Mitchell, George McDermott, and Jason Jennings.

The big news last week was the WaPo report that District 14 Delegate Herman Taylor (official government site) was considering a run. Well, today is decision day for Herman Taylor (Delegate campaign site).

Well as of 2:00 p.m., the State Board of Elections in Annapolis does not have a petition from Herman Taylor.

But if he does enter the race and he remains a Delegate will he be able to campaign & raise money during a General Assembly Session? Back in 1992, when the Congressional District was created one of the candidates, if my aging memory serves me, was then-Delegate Dana Dembrow, who decided NOT to raise money during the legislative session and it may have cost him his chance. But that is another story.

The question is: Can Delegate Taylor raise the $300,000 he claims is being promised to him in the 70 days remaining to make this a "go"? If the answer is "no" then why run? If the answer is "yes" then we will hear in the next few hours.

As I hear more I will report.