Agreed. It's still about name recognition and the primary

hasn't happened yet. When I say "name recognition", it's more than simply knowing the names of the candidates. It's knowing their positions and how they carry themselves, etc. Until there's a nominee, people who didn't vote in that party's primary aren't really paying much attention.

I say that with having a lot of admiration for Hogan, that he represents the best of what's left of the GOP, and that he would be a top-notch senator.

But the reality is that it's very hard for even a popular ex-governor to get elected to the Senate as a Republican in a state like Maryland in a year like this because a lot of left-leaning moderates who voted for him for governor and would again have their eyes on who will control the Senate.

I don't know how it will play out and Hogan could well win and even win big, but polls for offices like this that are this early are notoriously unpredictive.