Jealous Attributes Gov. Of Virginia Speech Mistake To 'Lifelong Stutter'

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Hogan for Governor campaign has taken aim at statements made by his opponent, Ben Jealous that contains errors.

Jealous attributes those mistakes to his stutter.

A clip on the Hogan for Governor Twitter account shows Democrat for governor Ben Jealous at a weekend campaign event in which he says, "Just give me your all for the next 31 days and you will be looking at the next governor of Virginia,"

Jealous attributes saying Virginia instead of Maryland to a lifelong stutter that sometimes causes him to say the wrong words.

"It was the end of the speech and I didn't even notice it. Honestly. It's just the way your brain works. I was told like 15 seconds later. I was like, 'Oh!'" Jealous said.

This has not been his only mistake. The Hogan campaign has posted an ad pointing out others.

These slips-of-the-tongue include removing Hogan from the White House, instead of the Statehouse, becoming the first black president, instead of the first black governor of Maryland and calling himself the next governor of Virginia, instead of Maryland.

Jealous went public about his stutter at the start of the campaign. In a news conference Tuesday he called the ad mocking and bullying.

"Stuttering is like a speed bump in your brain, and word replacement is a way that you can deal with it and as the mistakes are higher, maybe when you're a little more exhausted it might be a little more likely to go wrong," Jealous said. "It goes right most of the time. Occasionally it doesn't. Unlike most folks in this room, there are now probably thousands of hours of me speaking and the governor has chosen to take those moments when things have gone wrong and mock me,"

The Hogan campaign issued this response:

"Whether it was dropping the f-bomb to a reporter, saying he is running for governor of Virginia or promising to raise taxes, Mr. Jealous can't simply disown his words every time he gets in trouble with voters,"

Jealous calls the ad a new low in Maryland politics.

Hogan has what is considered a comfortable lead over Jealous in the race for Maryland governor at this time.

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