Talking about this and that...

There are a lot of things going on here in the Free State, so let's get right to it!

Presidential Politics

A new poll of Maryland voters released by the Baltimore Sun shows Obama leading Clinton by 39% to 26% with Edwards trailing far behind at 12%.  On the Republican side, McCain holds the lead with 26% followed by Huckabee at 18%, Giuliani at 16% and Romney at 12%.  Fred Thomson trailed at 33%.

The poll also indicated the softness of support for the candidates.  a full 40% of those who indicated a preference for either Obama or Clinton indicated they could change their minds while, on the Republican side, the softness was even greater with almost 70% of McCain and Huckabee supporters indicating they could change their minds.  For Giuliani and Romney the figures were 58% and 55%.

I confess I'm a little surprised at the numbers.  On the Democratic side, Maryland has for years been an old-line traditional Democratic state so I would have expected more support for Clinton and maybe Edwards.  On the other hand, Maryland does have a high percentage of African-American voters and that may sway the totals.

On the Republican side, I'm surprised to see McCain leading the pack.  With the vocal support people like Andy Harris are receiving, I would have thought that a moderate like McCain would be anathema to Maryland Republicans.  On the other hand, it might be indicative of the struggle among Maryland Republicans to decide who is a 'true Republican' and a 'true conservative.

O'Malley's March

Our Governor's popularity is marching downhill.  The same Baltimore Sun poll revealed the extent to which the results of the special session have affected the popularity of our Governor.  The poll showed that 45% of voters disapprove of the way O'Malley is handling his job vs. 35% that approve.  The fiscal package that the General Assembly approved is even less popular with 51% saying it's unfair to Marylanders vs. 33% who say it's fair. 

When asked what was the most pressing issue facing the Governor and the General Assembly, 28% pointed to high taxes with 15% pointing to education, 9% to crime and 8% to jobs.  Immigration, which seems to be such a hot election issue, was near the bottom with 2%.

Clearly the Governor is going to have to work hard over the next couple of years to show the benefits Marylanders are getting for the taxes they are paying.  Fortunately, the evidence is rolling in.

Education

A huge chunk - more than $1.2 billion - of the increase in Maryland government spending over the past few years has gone to education.  A recent report by the independent and widely-respected Editorial Projects in Education rated Maryland schools third-best in the nation.  The report, Quality Counts, is widely cosidered to be one of the most thorough evalutions of school performance; it uses more than 150 data elements in its evaluation. 

Education is particularly important in Maryland.  Despite the high cost of doing business here, corporations locate in Maryland due to the high level of educational attainment and high productivity of its workers.  This is why Maryland leads the nation in per-capita income.  If we want more high-paying jobs with companies like Medimmune, Ciena, Lockheed-Martin, Qbit, Regenerix and Human Genome Sciences, then we need to keep investing in education.  If we'd prefer to have our children working for Wal-mart, McDonalds or in a local chicken plant, then we can cut education spending and taxes right now.

Poverty

Another recent bright spot is the report by the US Census Bureau that Maryland had the lowest percentage of children under the age of 5 living in poverty of any state.  Maryland also has the second-lowest overall poverty rate.  This, of course, is partly attributable to the relatively low unemployment rate here as well as state programs.  Particularly important, I suspect is the emphasis on providing continuing support to those moving off of welfare and into employment.  It's not always an easy transition and continuing support can make a big difference.

I'll have some more tomorrow.

[Note: the illustration is of a poster for The Wolf published in 1908 by the Cincinnati Litho. Co.]