Could Maryland be another Massachusetts?

Well, Senate candidate Dr. Eric Wargotz thinks so. He wrote to the Gazette and said this:

With all deference to former Gov. Bob Ehrlich, I find his comments, through his spokesman and published in The Gazette to be inaccurate.

Having door-knocked for Scott Brown and then witnessing his victory in Massachusetts firsthand, I know that an independent candidate, free from machine politics, can and will win against any Democrat or Republican in any state, including Maryland.

In fact, President Obama admitted as much during a post-election interview when he stated, "the same voters that voted for me, voted for Scott Brown."

Ehrlich saying that Barbara Mikulski is no Martha Coakley is also not accurate. Both officials are lifelong politicians, both are beholden to machine politics and both stand for higher taxes, greater governmental spending, amnesty for illegal immigrants and a federal takeover of the health care industry. And both are/were well-liked.

Scott Brown's reputation for listening to voters, his record of fighting for open, transparent and accountable government and his campaign theme of "we can do better" resonated with independent, Democratic and Republican voters alike.

In my campaign for United States Senate, as I go door to door and event to event, I am finding a similar response — Maryland voters want elected officials that will listen to them and that will then act in their best interest, not the machine's best interest.

Maryland voters believe that "their" United States Senate seat, afforded to "them" by the Constitution, does not belong to Barbara Mikulski or to any one political machine or party ... it belongs to "them," the people.

My candidacy for U.S. Senate, like Scott Brown's, gives Marylanders a chance to once again have their voices heard in Congress.

I am hopeful that Bob Ehrlich might reconsider his comments given this firsthand accounting from both Massachusetts and Maryland, and perhaps have the evidence he needs to run for governor — a decision that I would support.

First of all, it's worth noting that Wargotz was responding to this article. The piece by C. Benjamin Ford correctly points out that Maryland's voter registration numbers are indeed quite different from those in Massachusetts.

But, if voter registration was the only indicator of success you would have an entire slate of Democrats in all of our local countywide offices, since Democrats hold somewhat of an advantage in those numbers locally. Yet Republicans hold 3 of the 10 countywide offices available in Wicomico County (Sheriff, one seat on the Orphan's Court, and one of two at-large County Council seats), and three Democrats are in their posts simply because they were unopposed (Registrar of Wills, State's Attorney, and one of the three Orphan's Court judge seats.) In contested races, the two parties pretty much split equally.

With the right campaign and right backing, certainly any Republican can make a run at and beat Mikulski. The difference between her previous campaigns and this one is that people are beginning to pay more attention to her record. As Eric notes, Mikulski "stand(s) for higher taxes, greater governmental spending, amnesty for illegal immigrants and a federal takeover of the health care industry" based on her voting record. Outside of the immediate D.C. area, does Maryland really want that?

The only sour note Eric hit was his support of Bob Ehrlich running for governor, because Bob's now dithering until March to make his decision.

This statement may not make me a lot of friends among the Maryland GOP faithful, but I've pretty much lost my respect for the guy politically - as I see it, Bob Ehrlich is handing Martin O'Malley a second term on a silver platter by crippling Larry Hogan, who could be truly ramping up his campaign now in the wake of Scott Brown's victory. If Ehrlich wanted to push his way to the lead in polling (particularly the important one on November 2nd) he should've jumped in two or three months ago. Even with Ehrlich's name recognition, it's tough to beat an incumbent with a short campaign - that's why the major contenders in the race for the Senate seat began their campaigns last year as did Hogan and former candidate Mike Pappas.

I can already see a scenario where Bob Ehrlich gets into the race late, loses, then points the finger of blame at the Maryland Republican Party for not being supportive enough early on while he was making his decision. Sorry, it's not my fault you waited around.

I wonder if Bob Ehrlich will be taking questions at our Lincoln Day Dinner next week. I know I have one or two.