MD-Senate - Sources: Mikulski expected to retire

[Maxwell]

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Plz no.

Brown can't possibly lose a Senate race, right?

[Maxwell]

Somehow I feel a Delaney v. Bongino rematch.

[Maxwell]

Dan Bongino will announce something tomorrow. If he were running for the House, I'd assume he'd wait to see what Delaney was doing. He could always drop down to MD-06 if it ends up open, but it would risk any bad optics that go with that.

Republicans would still be best here with an Orman type (e.g Sobhani), IMO.

Why does Bongino keep trying?  He got really close last year but that was the best possible of circumstances.......he seems so doomed for 2016.

I mean, the Maryland GOP could run Former State Senator David Brinkley, but beyond him and maybe blank slate Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford, the bench in Maryland is terrible. Bongino seems to perform okay enough for a guy who is an Allen West-endorsed candidate.

[Maxwell]

Apparently KKT (!!!) is exploring a run.

She has my backing.

Why?  She proved to be a really weak candidate when she ran for Governor in 2002.

But this is a lot more sure of a bet than the 2002 race was, and she'd actually be a good Senator.

Chris Van Hollen would be much better and would be more likely to become more than a generic backbencher in the Senate.

Really? I feel like he'd be a rising in power type. Isn't he rather high in Democrat leadership? Also, why would he leave to run for the Senate? I can see him as Speaker of the House someday.

[Maxwell]

Dan Bongino will announce something tomorrow. If he were running for the House, I'd assume he'd wait to see what Delaney was doing. He could always drop down to MD-06 if it ends up open, but it would risk any bad optics that go with that.

Republicans would still be best here with an Orman type (e.g Sobhani), IMO.

Why does Bongino keep trying?  He got really close last year but that was the best possible of circumstances.......he seems so doomed for 2016.

I mean, the Maryland GOP could run Former State Senator David Brinkley, but beyond him and maybe blank slate Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford, the bench in Maryland is terrible. Bongino seems to perform okay enough for a guy who is an Allen West-endorsed candidate.

What I mean is, how do perennial candidates like Bongino get money to keep running and running and running?

Like, what does Bongino do now that he quit the Secret Service so that he can keep making money?

I think he writes books nobody reads. And speaking as a semi-prominent conservative celebrity can't be bad money, if he makes any where near the fraction that Hillary and Bill make speaking.

And being fair to Bongino, he's not some long time perennial candidate, he's only run in 2012 and 2014. Now if he runs in 2016 and loses and then goes on to run in 2018, let's have that talk.

[Maxwell]

Potentially interesting Republican candidate: Chrysovalantis Kefalas. He's a former aide to both US AG Eric Holder (D) and Governor Ehrlich.

Currently, he's the VP of Executive Communications at the National Association of Manufacturers.

He's gay, and he signed onto Project Rightside’s amicus brief in support of the freedom to marry.

I would love to see him run. I could also see Allan Kittleman (Howard County Executive) being a decent choice in case the Democrats nominate Anthony Brown or something equally absurd. Rutherford seems he wouldn't be a great campaigner, though I guess he could be good insurance too considering everything I've heard about him is that he's a "trains run on time" kind of a guy, and that has been a receptive message for Republicans running in Heavily Democratic States.

Andy Harris seems way too conservative to win statewide and should stick to his nice district carved out for him, and Dan Bongino should just run for Delaney's seat again, especially if it's an open seat.

[Maxwell]

The Republican Presidential nominee would have to win and win big, the Democratic nominee melts down entirely, and the Republican candidate be, at the minimum, inoffensive, if not an outright star. I'm not sure Chrys Kefalas could pull it off, but he's probably as close as Maryland gets.