State Roundup April 30, 2010

CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNOR: Gov. Martin O’Malley said challenger and former Gov. Bob Ehrlich’s campaign message is based on “fairy tales,” Tom Lobianco reports for WYPR. Doug Tallman at the Gazette of Politics and Business examines the parallels to last year’s contest in New Jersey, where an incumbent Democratic governor was defeated.

Blair Lee’s Gazette column says the Post and the Sun suppressed the results of a Rasmussen poll showing the race for governor tightening.  But Barry Rascovar in his Gazette column says there’s good reason to disregard to the Rasmussen poll.
Also in the Gazette, Laslo Boyd speculates on whether O’Malley’s re-election is a sure thing.

The governor’s race dominates items in the Gazette’s Reporters Notebook.

TRACK TRANSFER: The Maryland Racing Commission approved the transfer of Laurel and Pimlico race tracks to MI Developments Inc. Thursday, Liz Farmer reports in The Daily Record. MI’s CEO said he’s committed to bringing the tracks to solvency within two years.

TABLE GAMES: Former Gov. Bob Ehrlich said table games in Maryland is a legitimate issue for debate, although not ripe yet with the pending status of the state’s slot machine program, Kathleen Miller reports for the Associated Press. John Wagner has the story for The Washington Post as does Doug Tallman in the Gazette.

LECTURE: Former Republican Gov. Bob Ehrlich’s visit every semester to a Towson University communications class became less theoretical and more practical Thursday, as the gubernatorial candidate used examples from the platforms he’s running on to make points, Nick DiMarco writes for MarylandReporter.com.

NORTHROP: Sean Sedam in the Gazette looks at the potential impact on the campaign of Northrop Grumman’s decision to move to Virginia. In light of the Northrop decision, Benjamin Ford and Erin Cunningham in the Gazette report on the tools Maryland has to attract businesses. Some say the decision again shows Maryland’s anti-business image, Kevin James Shay writes in the Gazette.

Bob Ehrlich said Maryland wasn’t a serious contender for the Northrop Grumman deal, arguing the state was merely used by the company as leverage, Larry Carson reports in the Sun.

TRANSPORTATION: Corridor Inc. has an interview with Maryland Transportation Secretary Beverly Swaim-Staley.

SLOTS: Three days into his new job at the head of the state lottery agency, Stephen Martino said he has no timeline for getting Maryland’s slots program up and running, Hayley Peterson writes in the Washington Examiner.

MANDEL: Len Lazarick has a review of former Maryland Gov. Martin Mandel’s new memoir, “I’ll Never Forget It,” which he says would be better entitled “The Accidental Governor.”

FEDERAL RESERVE NOMINEE: President Barack Obama nominated the state’s top financial regulator, Sarah Bloom Raskin, to the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors Thursday, Danielle Ulman writes in The Daily Record.

BRAC: Area colleges and universities are responding to the workforce needs of the defense installations moving to Maryland with enhanced programs in science, technology, engineering and math, G.M. Corrigan reports in Corridor Inc.

GETTY: Former Del. Joseph Getty, a Republican, announced he will run for the state Senate seat of the retiring Larry Haines, Carla Correa writes for The Sun’s Maryland Politics blog in a follow to stories earlier in the week.

OYSTERS: State officials hope an oyster hatchery, combined with new oyster sanctuaries, can help bring that population back from the brink, much like the Chesapeake Bay’s crab population, Jennifer Hlad writes for Capital News Service.

CARDIN PROPOSAL: Peter Hermann takes a look in The Sun at Del. Jon Cardin’s elaborate and controversial marriage proposal, wondering if Cardin’s $300 paid to police was too much or not enough.

MORTAGE FRAUD: Maryland still has a high rate of fraud by mortage lenders, but it eased somewhat last year, Kevin James Shay reports in the Gazette.

CENSUS: Marylanders filled out the Census forms at about the same rate as 10 years ago, Margie Hyslop writes in the Gazette. Baltimore and the Eastern Shore were up and some larger counties were down.

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