An admittedly nervous public speaker, Susan Turnbull addressed about 800 Democratic faithful at a swank annual gala last week. The new party chairwoman proceeded to confuse the two Mikes who lead the chambers of the Maryland General Assembly and flub the title of Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, calling him attorney general.
"Whoa," Turnbull exclaimed, waving both arms as if she were teetering on an edge. "Doug has probably already gotten a message on his BlackBerry," she said, referring to Douglas F. Gansler, who actually holds the state's top legal post. She later corrected herself during a shout-out to House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller.
So maybe it's been a while since Turnbull has immersed herself in state politics. She's spent more than a decade in the national arena, having risen to the vice chairwoman post at the Democratic National Committee, advising campaigns across the country and frequently appearing on talk radio and cable TV programs as a party spokeswoman.
Now Turnbull is back in Maryland, where she first entered the political scene through Montgomery County's Democratic Central Committee and then her efforts to improve breast cancer screening, inspired by her mother's bout with the disease. She returns to lead the party as it works to re-elect Democrats such as Gov. Martin O'Malley and Rep. Frank Kratovil in 2010.
And, perhaps luckily for her, it's not necessarily her glad-handing with local politicos that got her the job, though that certainly was part of the process. Rather, party leaders said, it was her skills and contacts cultivated through her national political work that made her the ideal candidate to build formidable campaign treasuries and keep the diverse wings of the party unified.
Republicans, however, see the election of a liberal from the Washington suburbs as another sign that Democrats are out of touch with mainstream voters.
"The Democratic Party on many levels has been taken over by the extreme left wing that can't spend enough and can't tax enough, and she's part of that wing," said state Sen. Andy Harris, a Baltimore County Republican who hopes to run against Kratovil in a rematch next year. "That just makes our job in 2010 much easier."
Turnbull said that former Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Michael Cryor approached her about succeeding him the day she learned she was not on President Barack Obama's slate of DNC officers. As someone who believes in fate and being open to possibilities, she said, she was intrigued and began talking to O'Malley, who nominates the party chair.
