Anthony Brown “badly off-track,” could lose governor’s race, writes respected commentator

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Lt. Gov. Brown’s campaign is in trouble, writes noted political commentator and former Baltimore Sun reporter Barry Rascovar in a column for The Maryland Reporter today. Rascovar aptly lays out all the reasons why Brown’s campaign is “badly off-track,” including Brown’s inability to form a connection with voters.

“[Anthony Brown’s] professional staff has hermetically sealed their candidate in a tight cocoon, isolating him from the media and all voters except the most loyal Democratic groups,” writes Rascovar. “They’ve picked the wrong issues to run on. Abortion rights and gun control laws are settled matters in Maryland. Even Republican gubernatorial nominee Larry Hogan Jr. agrees on that. The pocketbook issues will decide this election — or as advisers to Bill Clinton put it in the 1990s, ‘It’s the economy, stupid.’”

According to Larry Hogan, “Marylanders want answers from Lt. Gov. Brown on so many questions: What will he do about the $405 million revenue shortfall, the looming 67 percent increase in property taxes, and the more than 200,000 Marylanders out of work?”

“When in the world is he going to emerge from the ‘cocoon’ of which Mr. Rascovar writes, break his silence, and give Marylanders the answers they deserve?” Hogan asks.