Maryland U.S. Senate Race

Race of the Day

Maryland U.S. Senate

August 9, 2012
89 Days Until Election Day

Status: Democrat Incumbent
2008 Presidential Result: Blue State (East)

Outlook: Safe Democrat

There is not much action in this year's Maryland Senate contest, unlike that six years ago when Democrat Ben Cardin won a competitive open election.

Now, Cardin, a political mainstay in the state is up for reelection and should cruise to victory in his heavily Democrat state over an underfunded opponent. This is all despite that fact that in the April primary, the incumbent Cardin somehow managed to have a quarter of the primary voters cast a ballot for someone else. An African-American State Senator was Cardin's chief primary opponent.

The GOP field was also crowded on that day, but the winner, with just over a third of the total vote was Daniel Bongino, a small businessman who had recently ended a career as a highly decorated Secret Service agent, in which he was given high level assignments in the protections of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

As a Secret Service agent, Bongino had to be prepared to "take a bullet" for a protectee, and as this year's Maryland GOP Senate nominee, he has to sort of take one for the party as well as it would take something majorly dramatic for him to in any way be competitive with Cardin, despite a reputation as an articulate novice candidate, with strong Tea Party support.

Bongino campaign link:

http://www.bongino.com/

2012 U.S. Senate races predicted thus far: 7 D, 2 R
Predicted U.S. Senate Balance of Power thus far: 37 D, 39 R