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Prince George’s offers a treasure trove of running mates

Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005

ANNAPOLIS — Prince George’s County is emerging as the place to go for gubernatorial running mates.

Both Democratic candidates are looking to the majority African-American county for their running mates while Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) has yet to squelch rumors that former Prince George’s county executive Wayne K. Curry, a Democrat, is on his own short list. Ehrlich needs to replace Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R), a Prince George’s resident, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley (D) is likely to announce soon that Del. Anthony Brown (D-Dist. 25) of Mitchellville will be his running mate, while Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) is considering some Prince George’s County lawmakers as well.

First-term Sen. Gwendolyn T. Britt (D-Dist. 47) of Landover Hills, a civil rights activist who accompanied Duncan when he announced his candidacy in October, is said to be a top candidate as Duncan’s running mate. Del. Melony G. Griffith (D-Dist. 25) of Upper Marlboro, a key member of the House Appropriations Committee, is also in the mix.

Prince George’s County is proving to be a key battleground between Duncan and O’Malley. The county is a bonanza for Democratic votes with more than 45,000 new registered Democrats since the 2002 election — 345,284 registered Democrats in all, according to the Prince George’s County Board of Elections. Those numbers carry heavy significance for both men as they consider running mates.

G. Keith Haller, a Bethesda pollster, said it is not surprising that Duncan and O’Malley are using their running mate selections as a way to entice Prince George’s voters.

‘‘For Duncan, he has to expand his greater Washington footprint in order to counter the traditional stronghold of the Baltimore suburbs for O’Malley,” Haller said. ‘‘For O’Malley, Prince George’s County could be the checkmate in preventing Duncan from becoming viable statewide.”

Duncan and O’Malley are also intent on avoiding the debacle of 2002 when Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D) selected a white, former Republican as her running mate. The selection of retired Navy Adm. Charles Larsen angered African-American leaders across the state and was blamed in part for her defeat at Ehrlich’s hands.

Brown, Britt and Griffith are African-American, as are several Baltimore lawmakers whom Duncan is said to be considering.

Brown, an Army reservist whose political star has been on the rise in Maryland since this summer after he returned from a 290-day tour in Iraq, is the odds-on favorite to join the O’Malley campaign by the end of the month. A Harvard-trained lawyer, Brown has been considered a lock for lieutenant governor since he ended his flirtations with the U.S. Senate and Maryland attorney general races.

Brown has formed an exploratory committee to run for attorney general, but whether incumbent J. Joseph Curran Jr. (D) plans to stand for re-election (he’s also O’Malley’s father-in-law) and the fact that Brown cannot raise money during the upcoming 90-day legislative session is steering him toward Team O’Malley.

‘‘Things are very close,” said a source familiar with the O’Malley-Brown negotiations. The Gazette first reported on Dec. 2, that Brown was the odds-on favorite to join O’Malley.

Duncan, meanwhile, has been tied to Britt, who fought for the desegregation of Glen Echo Amusement Park and participated in Freedom Rides.

Griffith is said to have expressed interest in the lieutenant governor’s job and is a close ally of House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis.

Duncan is also believed to be interested in several Baltimore-area lawmakers including Sen. Lisa A. Gladden (D-Dist. 41) of Baltimore, Baltimore Comptroller Joan Pratt (D) and Sen. Verna L. Jones (D-Dist. 44) of Baltimore.

Former Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke was put forward early on as a possible running mate for Duncan, but he is not likely to leave his position as dean of the Howard University School of Law. Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, ruled out joining the Duncan ticket after his name was floated publicly.

Montgomery County Councilman Thomas E. Perez (D-Dist. 5) of Takoma Park, Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo and Ocean City Mayor Jim Mathias (D) reportedly are also under consideration.

Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens (D) also has been mentioned as a potential running mate, but her friendly ties to Ehrlich and her ambitions to run for Congress in District 3 make her selection less likely.