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Gilchrest and the Pipkin factor
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Race
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Contributor | U Ole Polecat |
Last Edited | U Ole Polecat Dec 03, 2007 08:34am |
Category | News |
News Date | Dec 03, 2007 08:00am |
Description | One of the most interesting (and utterly bizarre) — congressional races this year is in Maryland's 1st Congressional District, an overwhelmingly Republican district (President Bush won 62 percent of the vote there in 2004) covering the Eastern Shore and parts of Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Harford Counties. The Republican primary will take place Feb. 12. Until last week, was in essence a two-man race between "moderate" incumbent Wayne Gilchrest, who has represented the district since 1991, and state Sen. Andy Harris from Baltimore County, a conservative leader in Annapolis. Mr. Harris, an anesthesiologist who served in Operation Desert Storm, has made a powerful case during the past few months that Mr. Gilchrest, who now sides with Nancy Pelosi and against his own party on the Iraq war, spending increases and some illegal-immigration-related votes, is out of touch with his district and needs to be replaced.
Then, last week, state Sen. E.J. Pipkin from Queen Anne's County, a conservative stalwart who led the fight against Gov. Martin O'Malley's tax and spending binge at the just-concluded special session of the General Assembly, surprised everyone by jumping into the race. There are a handful of minor candidates for the Republican nomination, but right now there are three serious candidates: the incumbent, who raised $174,000 for the first three quarters of this year; Mr. Harris, who raised $531,000 for the same period; and now Mr. Pipkin, a former investment banker who spent millions of dollars on his unsuccessful challenge to U.S. Sen Barbara Mikulski in 2004, which this newspaper endorsed. |
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