Maryland Republican Party Elects a Democrat by Default

from The Baltimore Sun

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is Maryland's first winner of the 2010 elections.

The first-term Democrat won four more years in office Wednesday when the the deadline for parties to name challengers passed without Republicans finding an opponent to take him on.

"I'm flattered that people in the state of Maryland think we're doing a good job," Gansler told Baltimore Sun colleague Annie Linskey.

The failure of the GOP to field a candidate was striking, given Gansler's vocal support for gay marriage, a position which has put him to the left of many Maryland Democrats.

Maryland Republican Party Chairwoman Audrey Scott told Linskey Gansler is "one lucky guy." Scott said she'd hoped to put up a challenger. One candidate changed his mind, she said. Another appeared at the last minute, but party paperwork prevented her from being able to put his name forward, she said.

She would not give names. "We ran out of time," she said. She predicted that there would be more interest in four years.