Jack Markell and Tim McBride

At his victory celebration tonight, Jack Markell was introduced, not by an established Democratic name, but by a teenager, Tim McBride, who is active in the Young Democrats Movement and managed the field organization for Jack in the 4th representative district. WDEL carried the introduction live, and Allan Loudell mentioned that he had never seen a major party nominee introduced by a teenager.
Jack Markell shook Delaware politics to its core with tonight's victory in the primary for governor by building his own grassroots organization that, at least in some districts, outperformed the Democratic machine. The task ahead for Markell and the party regulars is to bring in the new activists into the organization in a way that strengthens the party for November and beyond.
As for those who imagined that a closely fought Democratic primary would work to the advantage of the Delaware GOP, forget it. First, thousands of Republicans switched their registration to support Jack Markell, and are hardly likely to switch back to Bill Lee. Seocnd, there's that pesky Mike Protack, who will syphon off a few points from Lee in the general election. Third, there's the organizational advantage that Markell has built over the last two years, in contrast to Lee, who is widely seen as phoning it in. Finally, let's not forget our two senators, who will not be in the mood to let a sharply contested primary divert the party from victory this year. Tom Carper stopped in at the Markell celebration to share a few private words with our next governor.