Duncan You Hear Me?

According to the Post, Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan (D) was in Annapolis last Thursday to declare his candidacy for Governor. The charismatically-challenged Duncan has to overcome the hesitations of even many of those within his own party, who contend that Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley matches up much better against Governor Bobby (a sentiment which has been supported by the results of several early polls).

One particular segment in the Post article leads me to believe that certain Duncan "boosters" are either sorely misinformed, or self-delusional about his chances: "Duncan boosters argue that the counties ringing Baltimore will not be as crucial next year as they were in 2002 -- far more new voters have registered in the Washington area than anywhere else." This was, in essence, the mistake Kathleen Kennedy Townsend made in 2002. Preaching to the Montgomery County, PG County, and Baltimore City choirs is going to win you just enough support to be the first (or in Duncan's case) second Democrat to lose the race for Governor in the past 3 decades.

I said it earlier in the year, and I'm happy to say it again: Duncan isn't even going to get a shot at Ehrlich, he's going to lose to O'Malley in the primary. And, it's no great loss that he will, since both candidates seem to share a fairly similar agenda: cozying up to development interests, backing short-sighted transportation schemes, and buying Maryland Democrats four more years of complacency. Unfortunately, for all those negatives, they're still better than the alternative sitting in Annapolis.