Targeting Miller, candidate and symbol

Republicans see the District 27 Senate election as a chance to make a gain, and a statement

Friday, July 28, 2006

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by Alan Brody

Staff Writer

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Laurie DeWitt⁄The Gazette

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (greeting Baltimore power broker Peter G. Angelos at a fund-raiser in Baltimore on Wednesday night) is facing another Miller, a Republican one, in November. He says it’s part of a GOP ploy to confuse the voters. ‘‘That’s part of the politics of Capitol Hill drifting into Southern Maryland,” he says.

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Laurie DeWitt⁄The Gazette

Republican Ron Miller was recruited by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to challenge the Senate president. ‘‘Mike Miller ... has created an unhealthy political climate in which dissent is squelched and deliberation is nonexistent,” he says at his campaign kickoff in Clinton on Thursday. The governor's backing has meant both donations and campaign help for the underdog, who is going up against a Democrat that many consider invincible. The GOP would like to see Ron Miller repeat LeRoy E. Myers Jr.'s 2002 defeat of House Speaker Casper R. Taylor.

CLINTON — Maryland’s political universe trembled four years ago when a political novice did the unthinkable and dethroned House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr., a pillar of the legislature for almost three decades.

With Republicans vowing to pour unprecedented resources into ousting Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., some are asking whether history can repeat itself this year or if the GOP nominee is the party’s quadrennial martyr.

While many consider Miller unbeatable in a district that trends heavily Democratic, the appearance of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. at a campaign kickoff Thursday in Prince George’s County for ex-Bush administration official Ron Miller signals that Mike Miller is enemy No. 1 for Republicans.

‘‘This past year-and-a-half has been very partisan, very far left and very negligent,” Ehrlich (R) said earlier in the week. ‘‘There are a lot of conservative Democrats who feel alienated from this Busch-Franchot-Frosh-Miller wing of the party.”

But Republicans know it will take more than sharp-tongued rhetoric to slay the legislature’s giant.

Mike Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach had more than $765,000 in his campaign treasury as of January, and a high-dollar cocktail reception Wednesday evening at the exclusive Center Club in downtown Baltimore drew more than 100 willing donors.

Ron Miller, on the other hand, has raised only $50,000, including a $20,000 loan, during his six-month quest to unseat U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Dist. 5) of Mechanicsville. Candidates can transfer up to $4,000 from a federal campaign to state coffers, according to campaign finance law, which puts the challenger in an even deeper hole.

But since being personally recruited by Ehrlich to take on the Senate president, Ron Miller said campaign resources and donations have swelled, which he believes will continue throughout the fall.

‘‘We have a chance to remove the last of the old-boy political bosses, transform Maryland into a true two-party state and bring good government to the people in place of a partisan and obstructionist legislature,” he told three dozen supporters at a Clinton middle school.

Although Ehrlich said Republicans will not raise more money than the incumbent Miller, ‘‘we are going to outwork him” and pledged that Ron Miller will have ‘‘resources that past challengers have not had, he has our administration’s record to run on, and he has Mike Miller’s record to run against.”

Some observers speculate that Ron Miller was plucked from his congressional race to force Mike Miller to earn re-election, while preventing him from campaigning statewide for other Democrats.

‘‘You don’t want to give him a free ride. This way, you distract him,” said Peter A. Shapiro (D), a former Prince George’s county councilman who is now senior fellow at the J.M. Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland. ‘‘You force him to work harder so he has limited time and, to some degree, limited money.”

The Senate’s longest-serving president questions whether Republicans are more interested in pushing their own longshot candidate or keeping him tied down in the district. He also characterized the recruitment of a candidate who shares his surname as a dirty political trick intended to confuse voters.

‘‘That’s part of the politics of Capitol Hill drifting into Southern Maryland,” Mike Miller said.

Sen. Patrick J. Hogan (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village, a Republican convert, said the GOP’s recruitment of Ron Miller was done in ‘‘desperation.”

What is unbeatable?

Democratic colleagues say Mike Miller is invincible because of his experience and ability to secure funding for his district.

‘‘If you have the president of the Senate in your district, who could want more than that?” said Sen. Ralph M. Hughes (D-Dist. 40) of Baltimore.

Republicans are kidding themselves if they think Miller and other Democratic incumbents can be defeated, said Del. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington, who attended Wednesday’s fund-raiser.

‘‘I think they’ve been talking in an echo chamber about their chances in November,” he said. ‘‘People are angry at the Republicans ... and the Republican Party is going out of its way to create conflicts that are going to hurt them.”

But the GOP points to Taylor’s upset as a lesson in how to topple longtime politicians. Ehrlich spent Thursday stumping for five Republican candidates in an effort to garner support for the campaigns of Jeffrey S. Yabalon (Senate, Dist. 11), Clarence W. Bell Jr. (Baltimore county executive), Richard I. Martel Jr. (Senate, Dist. 12), Jon Vandenheuvel (Senate, Dist. 32) and Ron Miller.

‘‘We’re not saying it’s going to be easy,” said Sen. Allan H. Kittleman (R-Dist. 9) of West Friendship, who accompanied Ehrlich on the daylong tour. ‘‘The people in Maryland want to have a leader who represents the broad view of Marylanders, not just the liberal view.”

But Mike Miller contends that Taylor’s defeat doesn’t translate in his district.

‘‘Just like Al Gore lost contact with Tennessee, Casper Taylor lost contact with Allegany County,” he said, noting that he goes home to the district every night. ‘‘What happened to Casper Taylor is not going to happen to Mike Miller.”

Even if he loses, Ron Miller’s candidacy could be successful if he makes the incumbent stay off the statewide campaign trail, Shapiro said. ‘‘It’s a fairly smart strategic move.”

And the challenger acts and talks like a well-trained candidate. His campaign has issued several statements sharply criticizing Mike Miller for his role in championing electricity deregulation, not being tough enough on sex offenders, driving doctors out of the state and replacing the Prince George’s elected school board with an appointed one.

‘‘Mike Miller ... has created an unhealthy political climate in which dissent is squelched and deliberation is non-existent,” Ron Miller said at Thursday’s kickoff.

Ehrlich’s team is wasting resources by supporting Ron Miller, said Miller’s House counterpart, Speaker Michael E. Busch, whom Republicans have also targeted.

‘‘In every poll, the governor is trailing by 8 to 10 points,” said Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis. ‘‘They ought to be concentrating on their own campaign and if they had done that from the outset, instead of trying to target legislators, they might have gotten more accomplished [in the legislature].”