GOP dreams land with a thud in Southern Maryland

Friday, Nov. 10, 2006

As in other places across the state and nation, the GOP’s hopes went belly-up on Tuesday.

The Maryland Senate District 29 race was a clash of two political lions who have deep roots in St. Mary’s County. Republicans invested heavily in St. Mary’s County Commission President Thomas F. McKay, who raised more than twice as much money as incumbent Sen. Roy P. Dyson in a race that many believed would come down to the wire.

Instead, Dyson (D-St. Mary’s, Calvert, Charles) hammered McKay, 65 to 35 percent, a pounding that surprised most political observers.

The thrashing speaks to Dyson’s popularity in a district that has shifted more Republican, but has continually backed him in previous stints as state delegate and U.S. congressman, said Zach P. Messitte, a St. Mary’s College of Maryland political science professor.

‘‘Roy Dyson is an institution, and he is part of the earth down here,” Messitte said.

Even if McKay ran the perfect campaign in the perfect Republican climate, unseating Dyson still would have been a tall order, he added. ‘‘This guy is above politics. He’s playing in a different stratosphere.”

Former St. Mary’s County Commissioner Barbara Thompson learned that when she challenged Dyson in 2002. But she fared better than McKay did on Tuesday, losing 58 to 42 percent.

‘‘I think the Democrats got out the vote better than the Republicans,” Thompson said. ‘‘... I certainly expected it to be much closer.”

Although disappointed in the outcome, McKay said he is not forlorn and has few regrets. Momentum was difficult to sustain over the 10-month-long campaign. ‘‘We just didn’t have the high energy level over the last two months of the campaign,” he said.

Once his current term expires, McKay plans to focus on family and running the family grocery chain. He also said that he might play a greater role in operating a local newspaper that his father, former delegate James Manning McKay recently launched.

Several Republicans said their legislative candidates could not overcome a distaste for the national party.

‘‘It was a huge national wave. Maryland is not immune ... to what’s going on in America,” said Kevin Igoe, a GOP strategist based in Owings. ‘‘This is a blue state, that [on Election Day] was even bluer because of the national political environment.”

Calvert’s most promising Republican met that reality as commissioners’ President David F. Hale fell to Del. Sue Kullen in a surprisingly easy victory.

The incumbent was at or near the top of the GOP’s hit list after she was tapped in 2004 as a political unknown to succeed former delegate George W. Owings III. A trademark grassroots campaigner, Kullen (D-Calvert) said the victory was an affirmation of what she has accomplished in two years.

‘‘I think the bottom line is hard work pays off. I knew it was a targeted seat. I knew I had two years to hit the ground running, to do a good job and to make a good impression,” she said.

Hale did not return calls seeking comment.

There was more bad news for Republicans across the Patuxent River in Charles County. Democrats swept all four legislative seats, leaving Del. Anthony J. O’Donnell (R-Calvert, St. Mary’s) as the Southern Maryland delegation’s sole Republican heading into next year.

Despite being the top vote-getter in three previous county commissioner elections, Del. W. Daniel Mayer fell 5,000 votes shy of Democratic challenger Peter F. Murphy. Voters put more emphasis on party affiliation than candidates’ credentials on Tuesday, said Mayer (D-Charles).

‘‘I think the people that came out and voted in this election had one thing on their mind and one thing only, and that was to get rid of the Republicans,” he said, noting the unpopular war in Iraq and congressional scandals involving GOP members.

Adding to the sting, Charles County voters elected all five Democrats to its board of commissioners and deposed its longtime Republican sheriff, while Democrats picked up one seat on commissioner boards in St. Mary’s and Calvert counties.

‘‘I think we just got our heads handed to us on a plate last night,” Frances P. Eagan, a former Republican St. Mary’s County commissioner, said Wednesday.

Some Republicans were particularly discouraged that they were unable to capitalize on any momentum gained from the election four years ago of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and actually lost ground

‘‘We had a glimmer of hope in 2002 that we were finally establishing a two-party system,” Mayer said. ‘‘Not only did we not hang on to what we had in 2002, we regressed to what we had” in years past.

He added that this week’s results would have lasting impacts.

‘‘I think it is a drastic step back,” he added. ‘‘I do think it’s going to be a long time before a Republican can establish a foothold again.”

Still others believe the party is battered, but not broken.

‘‘The Republicans got knocked down and got a little bruise, but believe me the party will return, because there’s no one party that has a lock on good government,” McKay said.

E-mail Alan Brody at abrody@ somdnews.com.