Spiro Agnew

Who was the last governor who had served less than two years when he was tapped for the vice presidential nomination?

Joseph Biden will mark the fourth vice presidential nominee from a state that borders Pennsylvania since Democratic candidate Alton Parker picked former West Virginia US Senator Henry Davis in 1904 to run with him against Theodore Roosevelt.  Davis’ neighboring status had no effect in Pennsylvania which cast their votes for the Republican team that year.  In 1968 Richard Nixon tapped Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew to join his ticket and while the Republicans won the election they lost Pennsylvania to Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie.  Pennsylvania was sure to pick a VP candidate in 1972 when Nixon and Agnew were able to turn the tides and defeat George McGovern and former French Ambassador Sarget Shriver who also resided in Maryland. 

In the last 50 years, which state has most closely mirrored Maryland in which party controls the governor's office?

We feel like someone mentioned this along the way (The Gazette perhaps?), but NPR's Ken Rudin digs up this piece of history (and campaign button) about Fourth district Republican Peter James.

The current Peter James, who lost to Donna Edwards (D) on June 17 to fill the seat vacated by Albert Wynn (D), is 52 years old. The senior Peter James ran not against [Spiro] Agnew in '66 but in the GOP primary in 1970, after Agnew had gone off to become vice president. That James lost the primary to Agnew's administrative assistant, Stanley Blair, who in turn got crushed by Democrat Marvin Mandel in November.

At the portrait unveiling ceremony for former Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) and his wife Kendel last night in Annapolis, state Sen. Andy Harris (R-Cockeysville) predicted that Ehrlich will run for governor in 2010.

"Personally, I think he will and I hope he does," Harris told PolitickerMD.com.

Ehrlich was an early supporter of Harris' successful primary campaign in Maryland's 1st Congressional District.

"For all the talk of gubernatorial running mates," Mark Halperin of The Page asks, "when was the last time a major party candidate added to his ticket a sitting or former governor?"

How many times did two Marylanders run for the vice presidency in the same year?

The new "nattering nabobs of negativism."

An unconventional (but not unheard of) way to put pressure on Al Wynn to pay for the special election? Sue him.

Hey, it worked with Spiro Agnew.