BREAKING: Doug Duncan withdrawing from Maryland Governor's Race

From washingtonpost.com . . .

Montgomery County Executive expected to make official announcement at 2:00 press conference.

No additional text -

apparently due to medical concerns (I thought they said clinical depression).

Tim

As one who has suffered from this affliction in the past, I can emphasize with him completely.

Mr. Duncan, I wish you every success in your battle. God bless you, Sir.

n/t

he probably had to go public before the press did.

Democratic candidate for governor, Montgomery County executive to pull out due to mental health reasons, sources say; 2 p.m. news conference scheduled
By John Fritze
Sun Reporter
Originally published June 22, 2006, 11:58 AM EDT
Douglas M. Duncan, the Montgomery County Executive who has been running an underdog but energetic campaign for governor, plans to announce today he intends to drop out of the race, sources close to the candidate have confirmed.

Eight months into a campaign during which he cast himself as a proponent of education and a more mature alternative to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, Duncan scheduled a press conference for 2 p.m. today in Rockville to
announce the decision, sources said.

Duncan, a Democrat, is leaving the race because of mental health concerns, the sources said.

The announcement virtually guarantees that O'Malley will capture the Democratic nomination in the Sept. 12 primary. Many Democrats expressed concern that a contentious primary battle would leave the party's nominee vulnerable and cash-depleted going into a general election against Ehrlich, who is expected to raise $20 million for his re-election effort. (cont'd)

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-duncan0622,0,3473550.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

Even if he'd never give the Balto City F.D. a raise.

He would've beaten Doug Duncan in the primary, no doubt about it.

(You might wanna bring up that pay raise with him. ;))

Duncan Drops Out of Race

By Nancy Trejos and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 22, 2006; 1:18 PM

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan will announce this afternoon that he is dropping out of the race for governor, sources close to the campaign said today.

Duncan, 50, decided to end his quest for Maryland's highest office because he is suffering from clinical depression, sources said.

Duncan, who has been Montgomery's maverick county executive for 12 years, faced stiff competition for the Democratic nomination from Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley. Duncan's was the underdog campaign: He has raised less money than his opponents and lagged behind in the polls.

<snip>

Duncan personally broke the news to O'Malley, a source close to the O'Malley campaign said. At 12:05 p.m. today, aides to O'Malley pulled him out of Mass to take a call from Duncan, the source said.


Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062200755.html

I'm sorry that Duncan has this problem. I live in Montgomery, and this is a challenging place to be the County Executive. We have more people than eight states and a very diverse population. The way the government is set up here, the County has a lot of authority. I would commend Duncan for helping make this place a good one in which to live.

All that having been said, the rest of Maryland kinda hates Montgomery County.....