Parties ponder election lessons

Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photo by Darwin Weigel Del. Sue Kullen (D-Calvert) drapes Democratic Party poll worker Ann Brandeo with stickers on Election Day, Nov. 7. Kullen won a race that was considered critical to both parties, defeating Calvert commissioners President David Hale (R). E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

On both the national and regional level, it was a bad time to be a Republican. Democrats narrowly took control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, a victory which included Democrat Ben Cardin beating out Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R) for Maryland’s open Senate seat. The Democratic Mayor of Baltimore, Martin O’Malley, will have Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s (R) job for the next four years. And the number of Republican members of Southern Maryland’s delegation to the state legislature has dwindled from two to one, as W. Daniel Mayer (R), a delegate from Charles County, lost his seat to a Democrat.

But the remaining Republican member of the delegation, Del. Anthony O’Donnell, who represents southern Calvert, isn’t fazed by the loss of his Republican colleague.

‘‘Well, you know, we only had two for the last 12 years and now we only have one. To go from two out of 12 to one out of 12 is not that big a difference,” O’Donnell said.

But Hagner Mister, a member of the county Democratic Central Committee, thinks O’Donnell may be hampered by his isolation.

‘‘Well, we have a Democratic governor coming on board in January. And the House is Democratic, [and] the Senate ... I think Tony [O’Donnell] has been there. This is his third or fourth time. He knows the lay of the land in Annapolis and he knows [that] when politics change the policies will change and he won’t have a Republican governor in Annapolis,” Mister said.

The most surprising result of the state legislature races was Calvert County Board of County Commissioners President David Hale’s (R) loss to incumbent Sue Kullen (D-Calvert) in the race to represent central Calvert on the House of Delegates. Kullen won by a 15 percent margin despite Hale’s eight years of political experience in Calvert County and Kullen having been appointed, not elected, to her seat two years ago.

But observers from both parties assigned the credit for Kullen’s victory not to partisan politics but to campaign styles. Hale’s campaign focused on advertisements while Kullen made a point of attending public events and going door-to-door.

‘‘Sue Kullen demonstrated that simple hard work, shoeleather and skin of her hand, shaking hands, knocking on doors, overcame what everybody initially assumed was a big advantage that David Hale had because of his political experience. ... That gives us great comfort to know that it can be done in Calvert County,” said Chris Reynolds, chair of the Democratic Central Committee of Calvert County.

Robert Reed, a member of the county Republican Central Committee, agreed.

‘‘I don’t think Dave Hale did anything wrong. I think in these circumstances that Sue Kullen did everything or more things right. ... I think she came off a better people person than Commissioner Hale,” Reed said.

Kullen herself attributes her success to the frenetic pace of her campaign.

‘‘I know the secret to my success was hard work. I knocked on an awful lot of doors and spoke to an awful lot of people,” Kullen said.

While races for state and federal level positions followed the national trend, Republicans did well in county races.

Republican sheriff Mike Evans was re-elected, and Laura Martin (R) unseated Greg Wells (D) as state’s attorney. The Republicans maintained their majority on the board of commissioners, as well, with all three Republican and one Democratic incumbent winning re-election. While the seat vacated by Hale has gone to a Democrat, the GOP remains in control.

This result contrasted sharply with the trend in the rest of Southern Maryland. Charles County elected an all-Democratic board of commissioners; the St. Mary’s board passed to Democratic control after Jack Russell (D) was elected president of the board, a seat vacated by Thomas McKay’s (R) unsuccessful bid to capture Roy Dyson’s (D-Calvert, St. Mary’s, Charles) state senate seat.

However, it is possible that the success of Republican candidates here could reflect a non-partisan attitude in Calvert County rather than the particular vitality of the Calvert County Republican Party.

Commissioner Susan Shaw (R) attributed her victory, and those of the other incumbents, to their relationship with the community, and said that the national atmosphere of hostility towards Republicans did not play a large role in these races.

‘‘I’m sure it affected them some, but in Calvert County we have a good reputation on the county level [and] on the local level of not making decisions on a partisan basis. ... There’s a pretty significant tendency to cross party lines on the local level,” Shaw said.

Likewise, Wilson Parran (D) was reluctant to credit national politics with much influence over local races.

‘‘I think it [national politics] influenced it in some ways and in some ways it did not. I think with the four incumbents going back there’s a strong message ... The voters pretty much want to stay the course over what we’ve done over the past four years, and we have accomplished a lot. Our focus was to do what’s best for Calvert County and Calvert County comes before party. I didn’t see a lot of party kinds of politics on the board and I think it will remain that way,” Parran said.

Kevin Igoe, a political strategist for the Republican party, even believes that dissatisfaction with the Republican party could affect higher-profile races while leaving local politics untouched, because voters are more likely to be informed and involved on a local level.

‘‘I think it might be that people may actually have a better understanding of the issues on the local races. Or maybe I should say that the issues in the local races have a more direct impact on their daily life,” Igoe said.

Reed also ascribed a limited role to partisanship in local politics.

‘‘Yes, I do [think partisanship has an impact] to a degree, but I’ve gone on record that the only party I acknowledge is the party of Calvert County. ... Most of the people, when you really pin them down, will tell you that they’re Calvert Countians first and then they’re Republicans or Democrats or whatever party you throw in there,” Reed said.

E-mail Erica Mitrano at emitrano@somdnews.com.