Despite Maryland’s history as one of the original colonies and its proximity to national power, the state has never produced an American president, and isn’t expected to break the streak anytime soon.
Oh, to be sure Maryland native John Hanson did serve as president of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation, but there was no executive branch, and the nation’s founders basically just needed someone to run the meetings, said Charles J. Holden, history professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
And there was a presidential candidate or two: Former U.S. Attorney General William Wirt, born in Bladensburg, ran for the Anti-Masonic Party in the 1832 election, but sadly finished fourth. He did manage seven electoral votes from Vermont.
As for major party presidential candidates from Maryland, electoral votes are only a dream.
Although there was Vice President Spiro Agnew.
“Without Agnew’s resignation, Gerald Ford doesn’t become president,” Holden said. “In an unflattering way, that’s as close as we get.”
Ford was not from Maryland, of course, but was born in Nebraska and took office from Michigan.
“The strange irony is that it (Maryland) hosts a lot of events and is often a stage prop for presidential events,” said political science professor Tom Schaller of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Places in Maryland have presidential appeal. For example, Brookeville served as the nation’s capital for one day when President James Madison took refuge in the postmaster’s home during the War of 1812.
Baltimore and Annapolis also served as temporary capitals during the Second Continental Congress and the Congress under the Articles of Confederation respectively.
Baltimore also was the destination of choice in the 19th century for Democratic National Conventions, said Zach P. Messitte a political scientist at the Center for the Study of Democracy at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
In 2008, the political conventions will be in St. Paul, Minn., and Denver, and a slew of candidates are running — from Arizona, Nebraska, Colorado, Ohio, Iowa, Georgia, Connecticut, Kansas, New Mexico, New York and Illinois, just to name a few, but not Maryland.
Presidential hopeful, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., does, however, take the train through Maryland on his daily commute.
The state simply isn’t in position — politically speaking — to boost a candidate’s chances. It is strongly in Democratic hands, holds a late primary and hasn’t had presidential candidates in recent memory.
What that means, Schaller said, is “it’ll probably get less attention than any other state in the union.”
Regardless of its lack of presidential prowess, “Maryland has a lot of power, more power than ever before and is going to have a lot to say in this next election,” said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert, citing House Majority Leader Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Mechanicsville, and Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a Baltimore native and daughter of a congressman and Baltimore mayor.
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