Maryland has become "Moscow On The Potomac" to many observers of the leftist agenda from legislatures in Annapolis and the "Free State's" Gov. Martin O'Malley. It seems as though a Republican may never get a fair shot at running the state considering the way Marylanders have been voting for the past decade.
But yesterday's announcement by American gun manufacturer USA Beretta that they are leaving Maryland altogether for the gun-friendlier confines of Tennessee may actually give the GOP an opening to make a legitimate run against O'Malley's chosen successor, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown.
Enter Republican nominee Larry Hogan, a life-long business man who knows all too well just how bad things have gotten for businesses such as Beretta to survive in O'Malley's Maryland.
This morning on WMAL radio in Washington, D.C., Hogan took full advantage of Tuesday's news and hammered home the fact that O'Malley's strictest in the nation gun control laws were only "the last straw" for Beretta to pack up and leave the state they've called home since 1977.
"This is happening time and time again under this O'Malley/Brown administration," Hogan told Brian Wilson and guest-host Crystal Wright. "We've lost 8,000 small businesses over the past eight years and unemployment has doubled; we've lost 80,000 jobs."
"It's happening every single day," Hogan continued. "We’re losing businesses, jobs, and tax payers at an alarming rate. Sadly, Beretta is the latest casualty."
Hogan then revealed that a few months ago he visited the executives at Beretta and they told him that he was the only candidate to speak with them. "They said the current administration wouldn't even return their phone calls."
When they talked about the fact that they might have to consider going to other states, six or seven other governors came to meet with them. Rick Perry flew in from Texas, I think Nikki Haley came in from South Carolina. The Governors from Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, I believe actively courted them and said "what could we possibly do to attract your company and your jobs and your tax revenue to our state?"
And here's what Martin O'Malley said. He said "So what? They can leave, it's a free country." And the gentleman I'm running against, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said "I'm glad they are leaving."
It's only July, and it is an extreme long shot for a Republican to win statewide in Maryland, but if Hogan's nimble actions in this news cycle are any indication, he's going to give Brown a run for his money.
- He was wise enough to go on D.C.'s high-rated morning talk show on WMAL, the Rush Limbaugh/Mark Levin station that is heard in voter-rich Montgomery, Prince George, and Frederick Counties.
- He hammered not just on the onerous gun law angle for the Beretta defection, but the overall climate for any businesses under the stifling, over-taxed, over-regulated O'Malley/Brown regime.
- And he painted O'Malley and Brown as aloof and uncaring over the defection and loss of jobs.
So far, so good for Mr. Hogan.