BALTIMORE, Maryland October 30, 2014 - Maryland has been off the national radar this election season, even more so than usual. This is because there isn't even the nominal race for the U.S. Senate, leaving only the race for Governor to occupy the time of political junkies. With its overwhelming edge in registration, the Democrats always take Maryland for granted, and with good reason. With the exception of the odd ball race that brings a GOP candidate to power once every now and then, the national interest in Maryland is minimal or less. But this year is, out of the blue, proving to be the once every now and then that Democrats fear. The Dems' candidate for governor is two-term Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown, bidding to become the first Black Governor in the state's history. His opponent is conservative businessman Larry Hogan. All summer long it appeared that Hogan had failed to generate interest because his campaign coffers were so ill-funded. All that has changed in the last days of the campaign when the internal polling of both candidates has shown a tremendous surge for Hogan. One wonders why it didn't start sooner.
It's not that Brown is a bad politician. But he is an atrocious government official. His big assignment during the eight years of Martin O'Malley was to get the Maryland obamacare website up and running. It never did get up and run. It has cost Maryland tax payers millions upon millions of dollars and was so awful that the state finally pulled the plug and started over again, spending more millions. He has nothing else to point to since he never broke from O'Malley even once, and has never sought to distance himself from the habitual tax hiker even in an oblique kind of way. O'Malley has been the dyed-in-the-wool leftist from the start of his eight years and has raised every tax he could and invented many new taxes - including the infamous "rain tax" - to inflict on Marylanders so that he could fund every one of his far left spending plans, while Brown did nothing but cheer from the sidelines. Brown never broke ranks with President Obama, either. The good news for him is that both Hilary Clinton and Michelle Obama are coming to Maryland in the closing days of the campaign to pump life and, hopefully, votes into the Brown race. The bad news is that the Dems feel they have to do this to avoid a humiliating loss in a state that some have taken to calling the Massachusetts of the south. The fact that the Dems have to send either, much less both, is a sure sign of abject panic among the party that has ruled Maryland with an iron grip for as long as any living Marylander can remember. O'Malley was so far left that he defied Federal Law and expressly invited illegal aliens to come to Maryland to live. Brown has not spoken against that policy statement either.
In the GOP camp, they are celebrating the news that Chris Christey, the erstwhile Republican Governor of New Jersey, is coming to Maryland in these closing days to try to push Hogan over the final hump. Outspent by Brown and forced to accept public campaign money, Hogan has run a shoestring campaign that only in the closing days has been taken seriously. But you only have to be taken seriously one time, and that is when people vote. They vote early and often in Maryland and Hogan will need an overwhelming walk-up vote to put him in the winner's column, something that even Robert Ehrlich, Jr. could not do twice. Ehrlich was the one Republican to win the governorship in Maryland in recent years, getting into power in 2003 when the Dems nominated Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to run against him. She was a Kennedy living in Maryland, but portrayed by Ehrlich as an outsider. She could not overcome the Maryland GOP Rep.in Congress, but Ehrlich lost twice in bids for a second term to O'Malley. O'Malley badly wants to be President, so badly, in fact, that he has yet to promise that he won't run against Clinton even though he was her Maryland Campaign Chairman eight years ago. Some think he wants a promise from Clinton for a top-level post in any cabinet she might get to name in Washington in return for dropping his bid.
Terps Hammer Hartwick, 5-2, as Kabelik Scores Twice; Ohio State Comes to College Park Saturday Night in Battle for Possible Big Ten Regular Season Title The Big Ten Soccer Standings are almost hopelessly jumbled and any one of six teams are still in a position to claim at least a share of the regular season title and a top seed in the conference tournament that begins one week from Saturday. Maryland, which hammered Hartwick, 5-2, in a game that wasn't that close Tuesday night in College Park, has now won six straight games in a remarkable late season surge that gives firm indication that the Terps may be the team to beat in the tournament, the first in Big Ten History. Right now, Penn State leads the Big Ten with 15 points, but the Nittany Lions are hardly in a position to claim certain top honors. They managed to emerge from a three-game losing streak on their home field last weekend when they beat last place Wisconsin in double overtime. In second place at this moment is Maryland's opponent Saturday night at Ludwig Field, Ohio State. The Buckeyes have 12 points. Michigan State stands in third place with 11 points and Maryland and Indiana are tied for fourth with ten points. Strangely, Maryland, ranked No. 14 in the Top Drawer National Poll, and Indiana, ranked No. 1, are the teams, along with Michigan State, that draw significant national attention. It is the remaining schedule of all of the teams that will decide the conference title.
Penn State has but one conference game left, and that is Sunday at Northwestern. The Wildcats, which have been in and out of the national rankings, are currently in sixth place with nine points. Besides Penn State, the Wildcats entertain Wisconsin on Wednesday. If they win both games they will finish with 15, tied with Penn State, and will get the number one seed over the Nittany Lions by virtue of beating them in head-to-head competition. There are a lot of ifs in that statement, and more left unsaid. For Northwestern to win the conference title they will need significant help from other Big Ten teams. Stay with me.
Ohio State is in second place at the moment, and they have two conference games left at this moment. If they manage to win both (at Maryland on Saturday night and at arch-rival Michigan on Wednesday) - a tall order - they will finish no worst than tied for first with Penn State. But the only way Ohio State can get the number one seed is if they win their final two and Penn State loses at Northwestern. If Ohio State and Penn State finish tied, Penn State will get the higher seed by virtue of their victory over Ohio State in September.
Michigan State is in third place with 11 points. The Spartans have two conference games remaining. On Sunday they are at Michigan and on Wednesday they are at Indiana. The only way for MSU to emerge as regular season champs is for them to win both remaining games and for Penn State to lose Sunday at Northwestern and Ohio State to do no better than split their remaining games.
Maryland, currently tied with Indiana for fourth place, has a manageable remaining schedule and like Northwestern, can win if they sweep those games. That means they need a victory Saturday night in College Park over Ohio State and Wednesday at Rutgers. The Scarlet Nights are in 8th place with only 4 points. If the Terps sweep those two games and if Penn State loses Sunday, Ohio State also loses to Michigan on Wednesday and Michigan State loses one of its remaining games, the Terps will win the regular season title regardless of what No. 1 Indiana does, because, as everybody knows by now, the Terps whacked the Hoosiers in Bloomington two weeks ago. Maryland would also win out over Northwestern, even if the Wildcats sweep, because the Terps will have one more point than the Wildcats, just as they do now.
Indiana, despite their number one ranking, has a tall order to win the Big Ten regular season title. First, they will have to win both of their remaining games: at Wisconsin on Saturday and at home against Michigan State on Wednesday. If they win both, they will still need lots of help. First, Penn State must lose to Northwestern. Second, Ohio State must lose both of their remaining games. Third, Michigan State must not only lose to the Hoosiers, but they also must get beat by Michigan. Fourth, Maryland must lose at least one of their remaining games, and not just either of those games. For Indiana to emerge as regular season champs, the Hoosiers need Maryland to beat Ohio State on Saturday night, but then to lose to lowly Rutgers on Wednesday.
Got that? I still haven't figured out if Northwestern really has a mathematical chance to win. Points wise they can tie Penn State and would win the tiebreaker because they would have beaten the Lions. But can every other team lose often enough for them to pass over every team betweem them and first place? I think it is possible. I think. I do know that Northwestern, which beat Maryland, can win both of their games and still lose out to Maryland because the Terps, if they also win both of their games, will have one more point than the Wildcats. Let's just wait and see what happens.
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