I don’t know if ‘rages’ is the right word. Let’s just say the Bob Ehrlich for governor people are anxious to know if those Tea Party activists who got behind primary challenger Brian Murphy will return to the Republican Party fold in time to help Bob Ehrlich try to beat Martin O’Malley for the MD Governor’s office this November.
Here we have the Gazette and reporter Sarah Breitenbach with a story confidently headlined: ‘Tea party voters likely to support Ehrlich—Movement not big enough to split state party.’
However, when you read through the article (here again) one readily sees that only one Tea Partier is quoted as saying she will get behind Ehrlich. I talked to this same reporter and said I didn’t know what people would do in the voting booth but I suspected few would actually work for Bob Ehrlich. I mentioned one man who e-mailed me to say that he felt so strongly that he would actively campaign against Ehrlich.
I wonder how many other people told Ms. Breitenbach that same thing but were not quoted either?
Then here we have what I consider to be a more accurate report from the Capital News Service on the same subject entitled, ‘Maryland Tea Partiers defeated, but not deflated.’
But Murphy’s supporters won’t automatically transfer to Ehrlich: After Murphy endorsed Ehrlich and the two appeared together at a Sept. 15 rally, Ehrlich went on a WBAL radio show and, when asked to embrace Murphy as a “rising star,” said “quite frankly we have a lot of rising stars in our party, including people who have won races.” [Go here for link to the radio show]
Ehrlich’s dismissive treatment of Murphy may come back to bite him, said Sam Hale, a Silver Spring tea party leader and former Murphy campaign coordinator.
Hale, who said his Maryland Society of Tea Party Patriots has 1,300 members, wrote in an e-mail that Ehrlich “significantly hurt chances of a majority of the Murphy camps supporting him, going forward…
“Unless (state GOP Chairwoman) Audrey Scott and Bob Ehrlich begin to show a significant amount of respect for Brian Murphy. … I believe that they will have little chance of convincing Maryland conservatives to support the GOP ticket in November.”
An active force against Ehrlich?
“We could either give him the boost he needs or be an active force against him,” he said. “It’s going to be tough for Ehrlich to win back support.”
Mr. McCabe, from what I’ve been hearing today, I wouldn’t be so sure of this (emphasis mine below):
Frank McCabe, chairman of the Solomons-based Calvert County Republican Central Committee, agreed, saying Ehrlich “really needs to recognize that he needs to reach out to these groups.” But McCabe also said that when push comes to shove in November, most conservatives will end up voting for Ehrlich.
Hmmm! Aren’t there other candidates on the ballot for governor more in keeping with conservative values? Why yes indeed, there are!
Ann Corcoran
Judy K. Warner
Potomac Tea Party Report 
Funny how when I respond to this post that there is a Google O’Malley advertisement above.
The Governor’s office makes the budget and does redistricting.
Do you trust O’Malley not to push through massive tax increases and take away even more of the conservative voice in Annapolis and in DC?
The more we focus on the negatives and beat around the bushes with candidates who can’t win, the more likely O’Malley will solidify the leftist hold here in Maryland.
Have enough respect for yourselves not to help ensure O’Malley gets back in – that’s the bottom line and nothing else matters until after the election.
Fix the party after the elections. We better! There is simply too much at stake right now!
By: baltocentric on September 18, 2010
at 1:43 pm
Hi Baltocentric, I don’t know what you mean by a Google O’Malley ad, I don’t see it. And, unfortunately sometimes the automatically generated links stink, but nothing I can do about that.
The problem I can’t get past is that I don’t trust Ehrlich either after the dirty dealings with the Murphy campaign before and after the primary. And, you know, and I know, that if Ehrlich wins there will be no fixing the party.
And, believe it or not there are things that matter more than winning in the short term, its called principle.
By: acorcoran on September 18, 2010
at 1:59 pm
So it’s O’Malley getting back in or we sacrifice our conservative principals and settle for the lesser of 2 evils? The problem is with the MDGOP and their sacrificing the primary process for the canidate who they’ve deemed, “the only viable canidte.” The problem is much larger than O’Malley winning this election. We will take our lumps slowly with Ehrlich’s moderate leftist tendancies or take our lumps in a quicker, more predictable fashion, with O’Malleys reelection.
With a neo-conservative Ehrlich administration, voters will further question the ideals of the Republican party. The reprehensible actions of the MDGOPs choosing to back one canidate prior to the primary and requesting GOP rules be waived in order to do so, will be rewarded to the long term detriment of the GOP and the voters of Maryland.
By: Tom Corbett on September 18, 2010
at 10:10 pm
Here’s one conservative who will not honor the bad behavior of Ehrlich and the MDGOP with my vote. if we go that route, we only serve to reinforced their thoughts that they are doing the right thing by limiting our choice to only those who the establishment think can win. I’m not going to willingly let others make my choices for me.
By: MDSunshine on September 18, 2010
at 5:47 pm
Well said!
By: Tom Corbett on September 18, 2010
at 9:45 pm
When Audrey Scott sends out a message to MDGOP members saying it’s time to get over our canidate (Brian Murphy) losing & get back into step with a MDGOP who chooses Republican canidates for the voters, we have a problem. Audrey told us to stop the pity party. My pity is due to Audrey Scott’s hyjacking of the will of Maryland voters and sabotaging the right of Maryland Republicans to choose between canidates in a primary. Many republicans have no idea of Audrey and companies request to waive the rule stating that the GOP will not support, financially, any canidate prior to the primary. Bob Ehrlich benefited from this support, leaving Brian Murphy out in the cold. Does anyone undstand why so many of us Maryland Republicans are not supporting Bob Ehrlich or his campaign & most likely won’t vote for him in the upcoming election?
By: Tom Corbett on September 18, 2010
at 9:44 pm
I totally agree with MD Sunshine. I have been doing a lot of soul searching after Brian’s unfortunate defeat Tuesday that felt to me like someone had died. It was to me our last hope of taking back our principles and party from the very overtly corrupt GOP and putting into the mansion a dynamic, inspirational, exceptional, and capable leader for our state. Now we are left with someone that I see as the direct opposite. For me it is never party over principles it is principles over party. And while I realize that voting for a 3rd party candidate will ensure 4 more years of Martin Owe’Malley, I don’t see Bob Ehrlich as any better as governor. In fact because Bob “calls” himself a republican it may make him worse than Martin because he sells out the republican principles and planks of the party to get elected. I can’t in good faith vote for the man. So it is now time to check out the Constitution Party candidate, see if he lines up with my principles, and possibly vote for him. If not I will leave the governor’s race blank as I did 4 years ago. The GOP needs cleaned up before they will get votes from me again. And, the reporters had better do a better job reporting on this issue because they are certainly not calling this one right from where I am sitting.
By: Lisa on September 18, 2010
at 10:10 pm
Anyone else noticed Bob Ehrlich’s campaign color blue. Last time I checked the Republican Party was Red. “The Bob” shows his true colors, and 75% of MD votes missed that, DUH!
By: BusterB on September 18, 2010
at 10:17 pm
O’Malley = Huge tax increases, even more gerrymandering taking our voices away, and way more than 4 years of living in obscurity.
Gerrymandering will lead to more democrats having seats in the House of Delegates in 2014.
2016 will be harder to get Senators in.
If O’Mallley get’s his way and pushes through an incredible amount of legislation that raises taxes, kills businesses, takes away our liberty and freedoms we will not have the numbers in the House or Senate to reverse any of this, if ever in our lifetimes!
Ehrlich stops these taxes, gives us fair redistricting, and ensure we’re not buried for good by the General Assembly.
It’s the facts…
Lot at stake and a lot to throw away for some sour grapes!
I’m no fan of Audrey, but facts are facts. I’m not going to flush Maryland’s future down the drain because of egos and hurt feelings. I’m going to work harder to make the GOP better and get more involved.
By: baltocentric on September 20, 2010
at 12:40 pm
I have to agree with Baltocentric. Voters’ memories are notoriously short and if you asked them whether the name Brian Murphy rings a bell, 95% of them will say no.
I’ll certainly grant Bob Ehrlich isn’t my preferred candidate but I’d rather have someone who at least would have conservatives at the table than one who would shut them out. We need to send the message that our continued support is contingent on following through on issues near and dear to us.
In the meantime, we also have work to do reforming the MDGOP. Taking our ball and going home simply means they can continue business as usual. The more talk about going third party or skipping the election, the more ability the establishment has to marginalize those of us who choose to fight from within.
By: Michael Swartz on September 22, 2010
at 4:03 pm
[…] left that comment at Ann Corcoran’s Potomac Tea Party Report. Obviously there’s a subset of people who believe that all is lost after Murphy’s […]
By: A note to former Murphy supporters : monoblogue on September 22, 2010
at 4:41 pm