he is running for governor, pledging to restore fiscal responsibility
in a state where he said one-party domination by Democrats has
swelled the size of government and eroded accountability.
“We’re mortgaging our future, and we know it,” said
Ehrlich, speaking from the walkway of his parents’ brick rowhouse in
Arbutus, where inside he once debated politics at the dinner table
and proposed to his wife.
“We promise you real debates around the state on real issues, because the people
deserve it,” Ehrlich said. “A chief executive needs to think and
articulate where the state needs to go.”
In
launching a gubernatorial campaign in a state where Democrats
outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1, the four-term congressman
ended more than a year of speculation and invigorated a state party
that many believe has been teetering on the brink of irrelevancy.
“In energizes us at our roots,” said Maryland Republican Party Chairman Michael S. Steele. “It excites the base of the
party.”
Ehrlich, 44, hopes to capitalize on the
post-Sept. 11 popularity of George W. Bush. He is boosted by recent
polls — including a January survey for The Sun — showing Maryland voters believe Republicans are as likely as
Democrats to handle state government competently.
He said Marylanders deserve vigorous discourse on
education, transportation and substance abuse. And in a veiled swipe
at Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the Democrat who is
considered her party’s front- runner but is the subject of whispered criticism
about her abilities and style, Ehrlich said he would make lead
ership a central theme.
“You can’t touch it. You
can’t feel it. But you know it when you see it,” he said. “At this
time, in this state, we need new leadership.”
The
former Gilman School and Princeton University football standout said
he was undaunted by Townsend’s fund-raising edge and name
recognition.
“I’m all about competition,” he said.
“We’ve been the underdogs before.
After addressing a
crowd of 200 that included his former baby sitter and the man
who gave him his first job prepping new trucks for delivery, Ehrlich
whisked his fledgling campaign to Montgomery County, whose
465,000 registered voters will play a decisive role in the November vote.
Speaking at a Chevy Chase fire station, he pledged
support for job growth and new technology, and said he would push to
build the Intercounty Connector, a contentious highway project
that has been debated for four decades.
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Earlier in
the day, during her own Montgomery tour, Townsend announced that she,
too, wants to build the road — signaling not only her first
major break with Gov. Parris N. Glendening, but the importance of
gridlock-suffering Washington-area voters in this year’s election.
Ehrlich seeks to become Maryland’s first Republican
governor since 1966, when Spiro T. Agnew won. Maryland’s electorate is
considered one of the nation’s most liberal, and while Ehrlich hopes to
portray himself as a moderate, his voting record came under scrutiny
less than three hours after his announcement.
About 20 protesters gathered outside the fire station, chanting
slogans and distributing fliers pointing out that the National Rifle
Association has given him an “A” rating and that he voted to repeal
a federal ban on semiautomatic weapons.
“We think
that people should know where he really stands,” said Ginni Wolf, of
Marylanders against Handgun Abuse.
Inside the
station, Nancy C. Lineman, executive director of the state affiliate
of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League,
said Ehrlich “should not be characterized as a pro- choice candidate.”
“If you’re a white woman of means, maybe you can get an
abortion” under policies Ehrlich supports, she said. “But if you
are poor and rely on government for your health care, you are fresh
out of luck.”
Ehrlich said his opponents came
from “fringe groups.”
“You can’t please all the folks
all the time,” he said. “I’ve voted 25,000 times. [Townsend] has
voted not one time, anywhere, any place. This will be a race about
contrast and issues.”
Monday’s events demonstrated that Ehrlich will campaign both as an insider who knows the
workings of Annapolis and an outsider not tainted by decades of one-
party rule and a decreasingly popular Glendening-Townsend
administration.
A former state delegate, Ehrlich
said he has forged bipartisan relations in Annapolis. “I think he does
have crossover appeal,” said former Del. Kenneth H. Masters, a
Baltimore County Democrat who served with Ehrlich on the House
Judiciary Committee. “He worked well with everybody. If he can effec
tively get his message out, it will resonate.”
Rep.
Constance A. Morella, the Montgomery County Republican who joined
Ehrlich at the fire station, said her colleague is not part of “the
culture of corruption” in Annapolis. “He seeks the governorship
based on his record of achievement, not entitlement,” Morella said.
Republicans have coveted an Ehrlich-Morella ticket,
saying the combination would offer the best chance of beating
Townsend, or Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley if he decides to run. But
Morella said Monday that she has no interest in being lieutenant
governor. Ehrlich would not say when he intends to announce a
running mate or who he is considering.
Kendel
Ehrlich, the congressman’s wife, said her husband came under intense
pressure from national Republicans to run for Congress again. But
she said she supports his decision to move on:
“He
has a clear vision of how to win. I don’t want him to be 10 years down
the road and say this was his chance and he missed it.”
Ehrlich said he would reach out to black and minority
voters, who traditionally vote Democratic and whom polls show strongly
support Townsend. He tried to pre-empt negative campaign attacks that
he said will portray him as insensitive to racial issues, a charge
that undercut Ellen R. Sauerbrey when she ran in 1998.
“You pay for real debate. Not 30-second sound bites. Not
30-second attacks,” he told the crowd in Chevy Chase. “We’re challenging you to take the race-baiters down.”
Ehrlich ended his day with a fund-raiser at the Hyatt Regency
Baltimore, where aides said a crowd of 650 contributed $750,000,
pushing his state account above the $2 million mark.
Townsend, however, has raised more than $6 million and had $3 million
available to spend as of last November.
The
congressman was greeted by banner-waving throngs of supporters,
including college Republicans from the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County and Johns Hopkins University.
Ehrlich campaign finance aides promise that the candidate will have
enough money for a competitive race, which they believe means
raising $8 million to help pay for television advertising in the Washington suburbs, where he is not well known.
Sun
staff writer Ivan Penn contributed to this article.