Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) Elected 2002, 1st term up Jan. 2007
Born:	Nov. 25, 1957, Arbutus
Home:	Annapolis
Education:	Princeton U., B.A. 1979, Wake Forest U., J.D. 1982
Religion:	Methodist
Marital Status:	married (Kendel)
Elected  Office:	MD House of Delegates, 1986-94; U.S. House of Reps., 1994-2002.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1982-94.
Office	100 State Circle, Annapolis 21401, 410-974-3591; Fax: 410-974-2542; Web: www.gov.state.md.us.
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In 2002 Robert Ehrlich was elected to be the first Republican governor of Maryland since Spiro Agnew resigned in January 1969 to become Vice President of the United States. Ehrlich grew up in a rowhouse in the modest Baltimore suburb of Arbutus, the son of a car salesman. A six-footer at 13, he got a football scholarship to the elite Gilman School in Baltimore and then to Princeton, where he was a linebacker; he went to law school at Wake Forest, working part-time as assistant football coach, then practiced law in Baltimore. Ehrlich volunteered in Republican campaigns and in 1986, at 28, was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates. When 2d District Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley ran for governor in 1994 (she lost the Republican primary to anti-tax legislator Ellen Sauerbrey), Ehrlich ran for the House. In the general election, he campaigned against the Democratic leadership and signed the Contract With America, though he opposed term limits. He was enthusiastic about tax cuts. He ran ads showing the rowhouse where he grew up and said the most important lessons he learned were around the dining room table. The result was a solid 63%-37% Ehrlich victory.

In the House, Ehrlich showed a willingness to cast tough votes, as when he opposed the minimum wage and argued that it would cost some workers their jobs. He broke with the Republican leadership on some issues, such as displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools. He voted against normal trade relations with China, siding with local unions. He was reelected easily in 1996, 1998 and 2000. He kept in touch with state politics and during 2001 was often mentioned as a candidate for governor. Speaker Dennis Hastert, fearful of losing the seat, urged him to run for reelection; many Maryland Republicans urged him to run for governor. But he did not commit himself until after he was faced with the redistricting plan announced by Governor Parris Glendening in February 2002. That plan reduced the Bush 2000 percentage in the 2d District from 55% to 41%, and it put Ehrlich's house barely outside the district, in the 1st District represented by Wayne Gilchrest of the Eastern Shore. The new 2d was clearly designed for Democratic Baltimore County Executive Dutch Ruppersberger. A race for reelection would have been risky at best, so Ehrlich decided to run for governor--a risky race also, but one with greater rewards if he won--and announced in March 2002.

At that point, it seemed likely but not certain that his opponent would be Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Elected on the ticket with Glendening in 1994 and 1998, well known as the daughter of the late Senator Robert Kennedy, she had gained notice for her work on law enforcement issues. But her numbers in polls were not spectacular. Townsend started far ahead in money, with $4.4 million raised by January 2002, while Ehrlich had only $600,000 in his state campaign fund. But her association with Glendening was in many ways a liability. His Smart Growth anti-sprawl program got favorable attention (Ehrlich said he was for it), but his high spending policies and his frosty to nonexistent relationships with other Democratic politicians were problems. Townsend's own work on criminal justice was smirched by problems with boot camps that had been closed after a critical Baltimore Sun series in 1999. Glendening's divorce and marriage to a former staffer, followed by the birth of a child seven months later were not helpful; neither were his public attempts to get hired as chancellor of the University of Maryland at $375,000 a year nor the ads he ran in the primary for his friend John Willis against Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, his still very popular predecessor as governor (Schaefer easily won).

Townsend talked about government programs in education and health care; Ehrlich talked about holding down taxes and spending. To solve the state's fiscal woes, Ehrlich advocated legalizing slot machines at race tracks (they were already legal in next-door Delaware and now are in Pennsylvania as well) and Townsend talked about securitizing the state's future tobacco settlement payments. Gun control became a big issue. Ehrlich voted against many gun control proposals; Townsend strongly favored them. When Ehrlich said in September that he would review gun laws prohibiting certain handguns and using ballistic "fingerprinting" and consider repealing them if they were ineffective, Townsend attacked in shrill rhetoric underpinned by the belief that his positions would be anathema in the suburbs. In October, Republicans were worried that the Beltway sniper murders would spur a demand for new forms of gun control. In June 2002, Townsend picked as her running mate Charles Larson, a retired admiral who was a former superintendent at the Naval Academy--interpreted as an attempt to appeal to moderate whites. In July 2002, Ehrlich picked as his running mate state Republican Chairman Michael Steele, who is black--interpreted an attempt to appeal to blacks.

Townsend's liberal policies and her attacks on Ehrlich as out of the mainstream because of his opposition to some gun control laws and his support for a partial-birth abortion ban may have had the desired effect among Washington area liberals in Montgomery County and blacks in Prince George's County and Baltimore City, but they were not well calculated to appeal to white voters in suburban Baltimore counties. As Townsend continued to stay under 50% in the polls--and even fall behind Ehrlich in some-- Ehrlich's fundraising accelerated and exceeded hers. In the end, he raised $10.4 million to her $8.7 million. In November, Ehrlich won 52%-48%. Townsend carried the Democrats' "Big Three"--Baltimore City, Montgomery and Prince George's--by wide margins, but Ehrlich carried everything else, and in most cases by wide margins as well.

So Ehrlich returned to the State House in Annapolis, the oldest American capitol still in use; Republicans made gains in the legislature, with the help of court-ordered redistricting, but Democrats still had large majorities, and the two leaders, Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Mike Miller maintained control of their chambers. Ehrlich's signature proposal, slot machines at race tracks, was favored by Miller but opposed by Busch and did not pass in 2003. In June 2003 he ordered agency heads to impound $650 million, 10% of funds in most cases, but over succeeding months made it available. But he did not waver on his promise not to allow an increase in income or sales taxes. In early 2004 he did back increases in education spending and in late 2004 he announced increases in spending on higher education. He continued to negotiate for slots, which he said would bring in $800 million. He said he would allow a state-run slot emporium in Baltimore and a ban on slots in Prince George's County if that would bring support. But Busch and the House of Delegates held firm and in August he said the issue was dead until the 2006 election. He called for cabinet secretaries to prepare 12% spending cuts in the 2005 budget and for agencies not to release budget information until January 2005. And he predicted that without slots, the state's horse industry would die, horse farms would be sold off to developers and sprawl would result in more pollution of Chesapeake Bay.

Ehrlich and the legislators disagreed on many issues. Ehrlich argued for aid to faith-based initiatives; the legislature forbade funding to go to religious organizations; Ehrlich set up an Office of Community Initiatives to get around the ban. "The fringe left get all excited when you talk about faith-based institutions helping anybody," he said. He also sought changes in the legal rules regarding medical malpractice, but the legislature voted instead to impose a tax on HMOs to pay for reductions in physicians' malpractice insurance costs and passed it over Ehrlich's veto. Several HMOs in turn raised their rates.

In October 2004 the Baltimore Sun reported that Ehrlich had approved a deal for the state to buy an 836-acre parcel in St. Mary's County and then sell it at cost to a Baltimore real estate developer. In exchange, the developer would donate development rights (for which he would get a tax break) and give some of the land to schools. Democrats attacked the deal, which apparently was never consummated and environmental groups charged it violated Glendening's Smart Growth policy; the deal was abandoned. Ehrlich promised an open process of land sales, and said that this was in line with his policy to dispose of unneeded state property, citing sales of 300 vehicles, the state yacht and an airplane. In 2005, he supported a constitutional amendment that would require the legislature to approve the sale of public lands. In November he also prohibited appointees and state employees from talking with the Sun reporter who wrote the story and with a Sun columnist who wrote that Ehrlich's communications director was "struggling mightily to keep a straight face" at a meeting he had not attended. Sun editors sought a meeting with Ehrlich, but he refused until the Sun apologized for a 2002 editorial that said that Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele "brings little to the team but the color of his skin." The Sun refused to apologize and in December sued, on the ground that its First Amendment rights had been violated--a preposterous claim, since the Sun was left free to write anything it wanted. A federal judge dismissed the case in February.

Maryland legislators have four-year terms, and so there were no state election results in November 2004 by which to gauge Ehrlich's political standing. He took comfort from the fact that George W. Bush's percentage rose from 40% in 2000 to 43% in 2004, and said that "the era of the outer suburban, rural Democrat is on the wane in Maryland." Democrats took comfort from John Kerry's 56% win in the state. Ehrlich framed the race thusly: "For the Republican party, the issues are … appealing across racial lines, having more of an urban-friendly, African-American-friendly platform and outreach. For the Democrats, the issue is: Can a moderate emerge from the Democratic primary, given the prominence of very liberal special interest groups in Democratic primaries?" Two prominent Democrats who had considering challenging Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in 2002 seemed to be setting out to run for governor. Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan held fundraisers around the state, appeared in Prince George's County political events and church services and even ventured into Baltimore. Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, reelected in 2004, traveled to Prince George's and other parts of the state, and raised over $1 million by March 2005 but did not officially announce he was running for governor.

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent
2002 general	Robert Ehrlich (R)	879,592	52%
	Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D)	813,422	48%
2002 primary	Robert Ehrlich (R)	229,927	93%
	James Sheridan (R)	9,181	4%
1998 general	Parris N. Glendening (D)	846,972	55%
	Ellen Sauerbrey (R)	688,357	45%