More on Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s

More on Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s increasingly aggressive efforts to pull away from Republican Bob Ehrlich in the Maryland gubernatorial race. This column in the Washington Times accuses Townsend of “playing the race card” in her debate with Ehrlich by taking Ehrlich to task for opposing affirmative action. Actually, I see nothing improper in Townsend’s statements, as quoted in the column. This is an area of disagreement between the candidates and Townsend has the right to seek an advantage from it. I wish that Republicans did a better job of this sort of thing. And Ehrlich should stop congratulating himself on the fact that Townsend is only slightly ahead after her “negative” blitz and do a better job of attacking Townsend’s record and that of the administration she has been part of it.
That said, I still fear that Townsend will cross the line and engage in dishonest race-baiting if her current tactics don’t work. She has hired Bob Shrum, who has been responsible for dishonest racial politics in Maryland and elsewhere, as the above article points out. And, as I reported last month, she was associated briefly with an operative who told the Washington Post he would paint Ehrlich as a Nazi in the black community. Stay tuned.