Who against Mikulski?

Maryland Republicans are forever saying to each other, with sadness, that "we haven't elected a U.S. senator since 1980 [liberal GOPer Charles McMathias, who served in the Senate from 1968-86 was reelected],"But the Free State's Republican National Committeewoman Joyce Tehres, was far more optimistic when she recently said to me, "Things are different with a Republican governor."

Indeed, Bob Ehrlich could well have as the first line in his obituary some day, "the first Republican governor of Maryland since Spiro T. Agnew in 1966." Six months after his historic election, thwarted by the Democratic-controlled legislature on issues ranging from appointments to his budget, Ehrlich has energized a state GOP organization long considered moribund. That he is governor is enough to give Maryland Republicans confidence that they can recruit a first-class standard-bearer against three-term Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski next year.

So high is the priority the party places on beating super-liberal Mikulski (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 6%) that a closed-door meeting was held at state party headquarters in Annapolis on April 30 exclusively to discuss the Senate race. Among those present at the meeting were Tehres, State Party Chairman John Kane, and party executive director Eric Sutton.

Inevitably, there was talk of trying to get a "celebrity" candidate to put up against Mikulski. While Tehres would not elaborate, she did note that "we've been talking about 'stars' as Senate candidates for years. Jack Kemp and [former Secretary of Education] Bill Bennett [both of whom are residents of and registered voters in Maryland] have had their names batted around many times, but nothing happens." Tehres, a past state party chairman, told me she doubted that a real famoso would end up running against Mikulski.

If the enthusiasm he evokes among the party faithful decided who should be the Senate nominee, Lt. Gov. Michael Steele would easily have the nomination. One of only two blacks to hold the second-highest office in the 50 states (and both are Republicans), Steele is included in virtually every major meeting with the governor on personnel and policy and his role as Ehrlich's No. 2 has been likened to that played by Dick Cheney for George W. Bush. Interestingly, Steele is also considered somewhat more conservative than Ehrlich; while the governor styles himself pro-choice, Steele is an unabashed abortion enemy who proudly participated in the March for Life this year and has given an indepth interview with the Catholic Standard underscoring why he is pro-life.

But Steele has made it clear that he is happy where he is, hinting he would like to become the second African-American to be governor of any state since Reconstruction when Ehrlich's finishes the constitutional limit of two terms in 2010.

Two of Ehrlich's Cabinet members were discussed extensively as prospective Senate candidates: Secretary of Planning Audrey Scott, onetime Bowie mayor and Reagan Administration official, and Secretary of Aging Jean Roesser, who previously served in both houses of the state legislature. There has also been considerable buzzing about a candidate from the business community who could underwrite a campaign with personal checks. Josh Rales, a Montgomery County businessman with ties to Chairman Kane, was prominently touted as a candidate in recent weeks. But party sources friendly with him tell me he has said he won't make the race.

Even though right now, Maryland Republicans are not close to recruiting a first-rate candidate for the Senate, one thing is clear. In contrast to Mathias or Agnew (who ran as a liberal in '66 against a unorthodox Democrat who criticized open housing and school integration), the next statewide Republican nominee in Maryland will not be a Republican-in-name-only, insists Joyce Tehrcs.

Noting that things have changed since the Mathias heyday in politics more than a generation ago, she told me that while Ehrlich was not an across-the-board conservative, he nonetheless painted a strong contrast between himself and Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. "And that's what we have to have for the Senate race in '04," said Tehres, "Someone who will energize the base rather than lose it."

Mr. Gizzi, political editor of HUMAN EVENTS, welcomes political intellegence from subscribers on campaigns and issues at the local and state level. Though he cannot reply to all correspondents, we appreciate your contributions.

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Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. May 12, 2003
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