President Barack Obama issued the following endorsement of Senator Ben Cardin in his 2012 campaign.
Ben is one of the good guys.
He has the courage to stand up for what he believes and he works for solutions to the most important issues facing our nation. That’s why I need your help keeping Ben Cardin in the U.S. Senate.
Maryland and our country need Ben’s principled leadership to help restore economic security for the middle class. Ben has been my friend since we served together in the Senate. Together we work so that our children will have the opportunity for a quality education, our seniors will have security and dignity, and we fight for a balanced approach to our nation’s fiscal problems that protects our priorities and invests in job growth.
In the months to come, please help make the calls and knock on the doors in order to spread the message to return Ben to the U.S. Senate.
If you’re over sixty five, the Affordable Care Act provides you with more control over your own health care and strengthens Medicare.
More than 700,000 senior citizens in Maryland are now eligible for preventive services at no cost – including mammograms, diabetes screenings and flu shots – and free annual wellness exams. By making preventive care free – the law allows seniors to see their physicians more regularly, catch symptoms and conditions early and stay in better health.
Under the drug plan passed by President Bush and Republicans in Congress, thousands of Maryland seniors were left with a gap in coverage that required them to pay the full cost of prescriptions or go without the necessary medicine. After Democrats passed health care reform, 48,167 seniors got a $250 check to help pay for their prescriptions and they’ll receive a 50% discount on brand-name drugs this year.
Senator Ben Cardin spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate highlighting how healthcare reform is having an “immediate impact on real families, small businesses and seniors in Maryland.” Senator Cardin is definitely right when he says that Marylanders and all Americans “have a reason to celebrate” the one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
Watch his statement here:
In an obvious sign the country is getting closer to yet another election, word went out this week that conservatives were attempting to draft comedian Drew Carey into the Ohio Senate while progressives wanted to attract actor Tommy Lee Jones into running for the open seat in Texas.
Jumping into this fray is Eric Wargotz, who ran and lost to Senator Barbara Mikulski in 2010 by 26 points in a generally good year for Republicans nationally. With no obvious GOP contenders having emerged yet to challenge Senator Ben Cardin, Eric Wargotz has taken it upon himself to start an effort to draft Eric Wargotz into the race.
Wargotz has created a Facebook event to gauge his support for another run in 2012, and updated his website to “Encourage Eric Wargotz to run for US Senate in 2012.” He may, however, need to do a better job informing his supporters on who he wants to potentially run against.
After spending $666,600 of his own money on a race that will probably be most remembered for a homemade rap, Wargotz attempt to remain demure about his future plans is ridiculous. The Wargotz led ‘Draft Wargotz’ endeavor serves as a rude wake-up call, and reminder for Maryland Republicans that there is an election in 2012, and that they’ll have to find someone.
Independent analysts consider Senator Cardin a “heavy favorite” and see Republicans as a “spent force in Maryland.”
Eric Wargotz, who often rails against ‘career politicians’, is well on his way to becoming a career candidate – joining the likes of Christine O’Donnell . He has given no indication of how long it will take to convince himself to run, or not to run, for the US Senate.
UPDATE: After the publishing of this post, the Facebook event “Help Eric Wargotz decide to enter the Maryland US Senate race in 2012″ was taken down. Feel free to enjoy the best comment from the short-lived page
