Local Democrats and Republicans differ on McCain’s chances in Maryland

As Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) spoke at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis this morning, representatives from the state’s Democratic and Republican parties were eager to discuss McCain’s chances of winning Maryland in November.

 While Al Gore and John Kerry carried the state by a 15-point average in the last two election cycles, John Flynn, the executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, said this year’s presumptive GOP nominee has a “very good chance” of emerging victorious in the Free State.

“He has a connection to Maryland,” Flynn said, referring to the four years McCain spent as a student at the Naval Academy from 1954-1958.

“He prepared to serve his country in Maryland,” Flynn added.

Calling the senator a “tested leader,” Flynn said McCain’s “appeal with Independents and some Democrats” would make him “competitive” in Maryland.

David Paulson, the communications director of the Maryland Democratic Party, strongly disagreed, saying, “Maryland does not want four more years of George Bush through John W. McCain.”

Asked if McCain could win Maryland, Paulson said, “The answer, plain and simple, is no.”

Paulson said McCain’s visit to Annapolis was “political,” adding, “If the Naval Academy was in Delaware—he wouldn’t be campaigning in Maryland at all.”

Maryland Democrats “honor (McCain’s) tremendous service to the nation,” Paulson said, but the senator’s viewpoints on a variety of issues, particularly his continued support for the war in Iraq, are not in the best interest of Marylanders, according to Paulson.