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Maryland's Sixth District is not simply the reddest Congressional district in the state; it's one of the reddest in the country. The district is large and rather oddly shaped -- it looks like a horizontal map of Chile. It covers the Western Maryland counties of Garrett, Allegany, Washington, and Frederick, as well as a tiny slice of Montgomery, all of Carroll, and good chunks northern of Baltimore (county) and Harford. And it's historically about as friendly to Democrats as Sean Hannity.
But not this time.
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| MD-06's incumbent Congressman, Roscoe Bartlett, is an octogenarian currently serving out his eighth term in office (after initially promising to stay for only two). He's your typical Republican troglodyte, opposing S-CHIP, opposing the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, palling around with Sun Myung Moon, and generally voting along with the Republican party line on most issues. He retains his seat through incumbent inertia and partisan identification.
But things have changed this year. First of all, Bartlett, as noted, is advanced in age and not at his physical best -- he makes John McCain look like the Rock of Gibraltar. And he's been embroiled in a few scandals of late -- notably his failure to report over a million dollars in property sales. These problems and the nationwide degeneration of the Republican brand have softened his poll numbers, and given the Democrats a window of opportunity here.
And the candidate seizing upon this window is Jennifer Dougherty, former mayor of the City of Frederick. Ms. Dougherty is a very strong progressive, a tireless campaigner, and a fighting Democrat as yellow-dog as they come. She's an Irish Donna Edwards.
Can she win? ABSOLUTELY. Internal polls show that this race is well within reach -- and Roscoe Bartlett's behaviors of late tend to confirm this, and indicate that his campaign is concerned. Bartlett, who always blew off his opponents in the past, has seen it fit to show up for two debates now. He's injected himself into local politics (offering his sage advice on the state slots-machine referendum), in large part to increase his profile and remind voters that he's still around -- something he's never had to do in the past. A recent Dougherty campaign rally in Garrett County (Maryland's most rural and Appalachian outpost) drew a strong, enthusisatic crowd. This is a race, folks.
This has been a low-priority race for the DCCC up until now, which is understandable given the district's voting history and demographics, but that might very well change given the Obama tide and the recent polling.
Please consider helping Jennifer out of you can. A win for the Democrats here would not just be immensely embarrassing for the Republican Party -- it would install a true, forward-looking progressive in one of the nation's reddest districts. |
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