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Ehrlich, O'Malley ramping up

Friday, Sept. 15, 2006

BALTIMORE — There were two games going on in Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Tuesday night.

On the field, the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox played a meaningless game — both are out of the pennant race — in front of a small crowd filled with Red Sox fans.

High above the field of play, however, was the more interesting political game.

Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. glad-handed, hugged, high-fived, posed for pictures and happily raked in more than $200,000 for his re-election campaign at a fundraiser hosted by Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos — one of Maryland’s most influential Democrats.

Many of Baltimore’s business elite, lawyers in Angelos’ firm and others mingled in the owner’s box while sampling food fit for a king — jumbo shrimp, crab cakes, carved beef, even a cake with Ehrlich’s face on it.

‘‘Everyone always tries to make a big deal about the party label,” Angelos told The Gazette in an interview during the fundraiser. ‘‘But I’ve known Bob Ehrlich for many years ... and his record of accomplishment over the past four years absolutely demands a re-election.”

Angelos, who has had a famously rocky relationship with Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley, Ehrlich’s Democratic challenger, praised the governor’s behind-the-scenes help in crafting a pro-Orioles television deal when Major League Baseball moved the Montreal Expos to Washington.

Ehrlich’s ‘‘work guaranteed the viability of the Orioles franchise for decades to come,” he said.

Angelos would not talk about O’Malley, who angered him by speaking positively about moving the Expos to Washington. O’Malley has also called Angelos a ‘‘monopolist.”

Rick Abbruzzese, an O’Malley campaign spokesman, dismissed the importance of the Angelos fundraiser. ‘‘If the governor thinks Peter Angelos represents the interests of anyone other than Peter Angelos, well, that just shows how out of touch Bob Ehrlich really is with the working families of Maryland,” he said.

For Ehrlich, the fundraiser — hosted on primary night in O’Malley’s back yard — was meant to send a message of confidence that he appeals to Democrats, that his fundraising machine is strong and that he will be re-elected.

Ehrlich’s confidence remains as strong as ever even though national trends seem to be favoring Democrats in November; he is a Republican governor in a heavily Democratic state; and he is trailing O’Malley in early polls. In an interview, the governor said he is sensing the same type of momentum he felt in 2002 when he turned the corner in his underdog race against Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D).

‘‘It’s ... maybe stronger than last time,” Ehrlich said, which caused one of his advisers to smile nervously.

Fundraising over the past few weeks has exceeded expectations, he said. ‘‘It’s one barometer, but it’s a good barometer to where the race is,” Ehrlich said. Campaign aides said Massachusetts Gov. W. Mitt Romney (R) and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani are set to make fundraising appearances for Ehrlich in the coming weeks. And just like four years ago, an ‘‘Athletes for Bob” fundraiser is also scheduled.

O’Malley advisers have never denied that Ehrlich will have more money, but they describe Ehrlich’s confidence as whistling past the cemetery and an indication of how far out of touch he is with Maryland’s political landscape.

Abbruzzese noted that Ehrlich predicted that Comptroller William Donald Schaefer (D) would win re-election and that Del. Peter V.R. Franchot (D-Dist. 20) would finish third. Franchot won and Schaefer finished third.

Voters will buy into O’Malley’s ‘‘vision for the future” over Ehrlich’s ‘‘lack of vision,” Abbruzzese said. ‘‘The fact that he doesn’t have one issue paper on his Web site speaks volumes.”

But issue papers are not going to decide the governor’s race, Bethesda pollster G. Keith Haller said. O’Malley should be concerned about — not dismissive of — Ehrlich’s confidence because the governor has some advantages going into the election, he said.

Ehrlich is ‘‘filling out his base,” Haller said. Four years ago, Ehrlich carried every jurisdiction outside the ‘‘Big Three” of Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and Baltimore city, and he is going to continue to run strong there, he said.

Democrats will have to work harder and spend more money associating Ehrlich with the state’s problems than the GOP will to associate O’Malley with Baltimore city’s woes, Haller said.

O’Malley’s attempts to tie Ehrlich to the unpopular President George W. Bush won’t work, Haller said, pointing out that Ehrlich withstood similar attacks in 2002 and that even as the president’s poll numbers have plunged in Maryland, Ehrlich’s approval rating has hovered around 50 percent.

The governor may gain some traction painting the Democratic Party’s statewide ticket as too white and too liberal for Maryland, analysts say. Franchot, the Democratic nominee for comptroller, is an unabashed liberal. Republicans have also criticized U.S. Senate candidate Benjamin L. Cardin and O’Malley as too far to the left.

‘‘It’s no question it would be better for Democrats if they had a more diverse ticket and some candidates with a base and appeal in outer suburban areas,” said former House majority leader D. Bruce Poole, a Democrat from Hagerstown.

In the end, Haller said, the governor’s race will come down to personalities, and there are no stronger personalities in Maryland than Ehrlich’s and O’Malley’s.

‘‘You have two very dominant personalities, titans running against each other,” Haller said. ‘‘You can’t find two bigger heavyweights who are going to be duking it out.”