As state Republicans called Doug Duncan?s exit from the Maryland?s governor?s race a blow to Democratic voters, Democratic leaders are now focusing on pulling the party together for a general election fight that will be anything but easy.
Duncan, 50, dropped out of the race Thursday after receiving a diagnosis of clinical depression that stunned supporters. Though Duncan trailed Democratic Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley in polls and had raised less money, he was still considered a viable candidate.
O?Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese would not say how much the campaign had raised since January, when it reported $4.3 million. It is “too early to tell” how Duncan?s early exit would affect itself internally within the O?Malley camp, he said. So far, it has not made plans to increase staff.
“There?s a process now to bring the party together,” Abbruzzese said. “That process will play itself out over the next couple of days.”
Duncan?s dropping out does not significantly change the GOP?s strategy in the campaign, said state Republican Party spokeswoman Audra Miller. What it does allow is “more time to bring out all of O?Malley?s failures,” she said before calling the campaign “self-absorbed.”
“Doug [Duncan] ran a campaign of fresh ideas and solid proposals,” Miller said. “At least he had ideas.”
It is a campaign that is likely to become deluged in mudslinging, said Jennifer Duffy, editor of the Cook Political Report, which has called the race a “toss-up” for Ehrlich. A Zogby poll released June 19 showed O?Malley beating Ehrlich 53 percent to 39 percent.
Duffy said she?d love “to be a fly on the wall at the Ehrlich headquarters.”
“It can?t be pretty,” she said. “They?ve got to redo everything. I think that this was always going to be a nasty race, it?ll just be nasty earlier.”
But Ehrlich?s press secretary Shareese DeLeaver said the campaign has not changed any of its strategies. It will use the next five months to highlight the “stark contrasts” between O?Malley and Ehrlich.
The U.S. Census Bureau gave the state GOP fresh meat in its fight against O?Malley on Wednesday when it announced Baltimore lost 6,000 residents last year. Republicans said that number is a result of residents fleeing because of O?Malley?s failure to improve schools and public safety.
O?Malley has said he would appeal that data. The city has successfully challenged data in 2001, 2003 and 2004, Abbruzzese said. Meanwhile, the O?Malley camp said Ehrlich?s veto last week of a relief plan for Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. customers could cost him. Democrats accuse Ehrlich of favoring corporate interests over consumers.
The General Assembly overrode the veto Friday.
