ONE DAY!

As previously predicted, Maryland will be a solid Obama state and nothing will change that. McCain is not campaigning in Maryland, it has been traditionally democratic, and the large African American population will make it a state to come in early during the night.

Maryland is predictable

Today the Baltimore Sun released an article titled "Maryland is too predictable to get top-of-ticket attention". This article aligned with my 50 and 10 days to go blogs, showing that Maryland is truly a completely safe, blue state. While Marylanders are still excited about the election because their neighbors are battleground states, there is little action to be seen in the state. The Sun said, "In the final hours before the election, Barack Obama, John McCain and their running mates are flooding neighboring states with in-person appearances and campaign commercials. TV and radio signals from next-door are hitting much of Maryland. And everyone could see Obama's infomercial or national cable ads"

The Baltimore Sun Endorses Obama

http://www.baltimoresun.com/video/?slug=bal-endorsevideo1025

10 days to go!

As the election gets closer and closer, Maryland's "election officials brace for historic turn-out".  The Baltimore Examiner predicts that voter turnout in some precincts could reach 90% and 85% state-wide. In a state that is already seen as bleeding blue, this turnout expectation will only reinforce Obama's lead in Maryland. To combat any confusion on election day, Maryland officials have been working to make sure the voter knows what to do and where to go. They have launched a "Know Where I Vote" project and have focused on voter education.

As I predicted with 50 days to go, Maryland will definitely be a state that Obama can call early in the night on November 4th. The state has historically placed its electoral votes for the Democrat, has more registered Democrats than Republicans, and has a large black population that has yet to be swayed by a Republican candidate. 

Volunteers in Maryland are still excited

Even though Maryland is not a swing state in this presidential election, Obama volunteers in Maryland are still fired up. Volunteers such as the ones in the photo above have been gathered by the Obama campaign to help in traveling to their neighboring states of Virginia and Pennsylvania to spread GOTV efforts and encourage others to vote for Obama. The Baltimore Sun said, "The concept of exporting volunteers and resources to competitive states isn't new. But state political observers say the scale, the impact and the stakes have never been higher than this year".  This statement is not surprising, where the Obama campaign has stepped up the levels of GOTV, advertising and fundraising in this election.  Grassroots campaigning in these swing states is essential, and it is very smart for Obama's campaign to continue to make a presence in states like Maryland. 

Voter Registration--Last day in MD!

October 14th at 9:00 PM is the last day to vote in Maryland. The Baltimore Sun spoke with Linda H. Lamone, the state administrator of elections, who had reported to that she had been very busy getting the people of Maryland registered to vote. While Maryland will still be an Obama state, it is important for Obama's campaign to have these newly eligible voters, such as the ones shown above, actually registered to vote. 

A two-party electoral system

Tonight Independent presidential candidate, Ralph Nader, spoke to a group of about 200 people in Baltimore, Maryland. Nader did as other presidential candidates do when speaking to crowds, discussing the main issues of the time. He spoke of the economic situation, his stance on corporate crimes, health care, minimum wage, and the war in Iraq. However, Nader had a different subject that he spoke about to this crowd.

Being an Independent, Nader has not been included in the normal activities of the candidates that we so closely follow. He told the attendees "that he has not done an interview with any of the major networks since February despite being on the ballot in 45 states." It is amazing to think that in our 24 hour news cycle, Nader has not made any news in that many months. Additionally, Nader told the Baltimore crowd that he disagrees in the debates being organized by a privately owned organization, and proposes that it be run by the government instead. Although he was on the ballot in 45 of the 50 states, he has not been deemed worthy to be in the debates. Nader feels that this has limited his message from being heard and that our current system does not allow third party candidates to have any chance.

Fundraising in Maryland

The Washington Post shows McCain with $234,649 and Obama with $877,247 of contributions by voters in Maryland. This comes as no surprise, since Obama is clearly going to win the state of Maryland. However, it is interesting to see just how much the divide is in campaign contributions. As we all know, money is key to a running a successful presidential campaign and fundraising is a good indicator of how well a candidate will do in a state. It is obvious that Obama has done well in Maryland in almost tripling the amount of funding that McCain has seen from this state.

The issues or race?

When analyzing the political history of Maryland it is interesting to read that it has a history of voting Democratic, mostly due to the large percentage of blacks in its population. The National Journal Almanac discusses Maryland's demographics explaining that the blacks that make up the Democratic voters do not fit the usual Democratic profile. They are affluent and well educated, however they still vote like those with less education and who are less well off. This stood out to me as an issue not only in Maryland, but also in this election across the board.

Have the parties moved from being about issues to being about race? While I know that there are black Republicans, even Maryland's very own Michael Steele who ran for Senator in 2006, it seems as though many people are voting in this election and in Maryland historically for particular candidates or the parties because of their race.

What makes this even more interesting is Barack Obama takes a strong stance in showing how this election should not be about race, and trying to prove to the American public that he represents all walks of life and all races of people. However, are people voting for him simply because they are black? Is he thriving off of the black vote?

50 days to go

Maryland can be classified as "Strong Obama" this election cycle, which is of no surprise to voters, candidates, and political analysts. Maryland has a very large black population, which will make their voters strongly identify with Obama, as well as turn out to vote in this historic election. The National Journal's political analysis of Maryland states, "Republican statewide candidates need more than two-thirds of the non-black votes to win, and that’s pretty hard to achieve when 17% of the votes are cast in the upscale and heavily liberal suburbs of Montgomery County, northwest of Washington."

Maryland holds its presidential primary a week before the well known "Super Tuesday", however they have gotten little notice in elections due to their consistent Democratic candidate voting nature. This election cycle, their primary was held on February 12th.

The governor and two senators are all Democrats and are not up for reelection this year, so those positions will not be mixing up the presidential election this year. Out of the eight congressional seats that Maryland has, only two of those seats are held by Republicans. It is not being reported that any of the seats up for reelection this year will make a difference, or be very close watches.

The National Journal Almanac lists Maryland's registered voters as "D: 1,733,126(55.1%) ; R: 909,275(28.9%) ; ; O: 500,411(15.9%)".

In four past election cycles, as is the trend with Maryland, they have voted for the Democratic candidates. In 1992 and 1996 the electoral votes were cast for Clinton, in 2000 for Gore and 2004 for Kerry.

Obama has it

Maryland's latest poll on Pollster.com is strongly supporting Obama, with a 53-37.2 lead on McCain. Maryland joins the 189 states that Pollster has grouped as Strong Obama states. These states are more than likely going to have no change in their overall support, but anything can happen in the 54 days remaining! More updates to come...