Frederick News Post
Frederick set to become political battleground in '06
Publish Date: 05/01/05
By Clifford G. Cumber and Liz Babiarz
News-Post Staff

FREDERICK -- Even though the next statewide election is more than a year away, Frederick is set to become a political battlefield.

Republicans are eyeing Frederick as the place where they can build on the domination they've held in this region during the past 30 years and their 2002 success in capturing the governor's mansion for the first time in 36 years.

Democrats see the county as the place to stem the GOP tide and perhaps begin the journey back to a time when their party was Frederick's top dog.

"Frederick is a major player," said James Gimpel, a political science professor at the University of Maryland. "It's really become more of central Maryland than Western Maryland."

The renewed focus on Frederick became apparent Friday night, as both parties turned out record numbers for their annual dinners. Both Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich and Baltimore City Mayor Martin O'Malley, who is expected to give Mr. Ehrlich his strongest challenge in 2006, attended their party's dinners to deliver keynote speeches.

Delegate Richard Weldon, R-Frederick, said the same night events were the "perfect political storm, right here in Frederick County."

"It says we have arrived on the political map of Maryland," he said.

"The campaign season began the day after the election in 2002," said Maryland Republican Party Chairman John Kane. "I think Mayor O'Malley is most likely shadowing the governor. Wherever the governor goes, O'Malley is trying to find that out in advance and find a reason to be in the same area."

Mr. Ehrlich has a strong base of support in Frederick and has made numerous visits in the past. But Democratic Party candidates have begun forays of their own into what has previously been seen as enemy territory.

In mid-April, the first Western Maryland Democratic Conference held in Allegany County drew some of the strongest Democratic contenders for statewide office. Mr. O'Malley attended, as did Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan. Both men have laid groundwork to challenge for the state's top spot in 2006.

Also present was Rep. Ben Cardin, and former congressman and NAACP president Kweisi Mfume, candidates in the race for the seat of retiring Democrat, U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes.

Mr. Cardin was in Frederick again on Tuesday, his first campaign stop following his announcement in Baltimore of a Senate run.

"Every community is important," he said on the day. "I wanted to make that clear by where I was on the day that I made the announcement."

Mr. O'Malley returned Friday night to deliver the keynote address at the Democrats annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, sounding a clarion call to party colleagues.

"I don't believe the Democratic Party should cede one single county, " Mr. O'Malley said to thunderous cheers. " É Not one single county, not one neighborhood."

It's a message echoed by Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lierman, who said he had spent more time in the state's rural areas than he had in Montgomery County. This year Democrats will use the Frederick city election to road test the campaign machine to be used in the 2006 election.

"The approach is pretty simple," he said. "We're being very aggressive in all 24 jurisdictions in this state and we're paying attention to the far west and far eastern parts of the state."

Mr. Mfume could not attend Friday night's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner for the Democrats, but promised in a letter to Frederick County Central Committee Chairman Tom Slater to extend Democratic influence into traditionally Republican parts of the state.

"I will be reaching out beyond the metropolitan areas of our state to the people of the green hills of Western Maryland, into Southern Maryland, and the Eastern Shore in order to fashion a political campaign that will boldly address the interests and aspirations of citizens from every part of Maryland," he wrote.

Republicans, too, refuse to give any ground. Mr. Kane said a recent poll showed strong support among Republicans and independents for Mr. Ehrlich's agenda. The poll also showed the governor's vote tally would mirror 2002's.

"These are good numbers to go into the last 17 months of his administration with," Mr. Kane said, declining to go into details because it was a private poll.

But others say Mr. Ehrlich fumbled the recent Maryland General Assembly session and needs to play catch up, especially against an aggressive challenger like Mr. O'Malley. The governor will need Western Maryland and the Baltimore suburbs to carry the state, said Matthew Crenson, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.

"He needs to go out and shore up his area, especially after the past season where he came out particularly bloodied," Dr. Crenson said.

Hood College politics and history professor Len Latkovski agreed, saying Mr. Ehrlich is trying to regroup, and that Mr. O'Malley is a "savvy É good campaigner."

"Even though he is governor, he has to prove that he can administer efficiently and he will have to overcome the perception that he is not able to work effectively with all sides," Dr. Latkovski said. "It will be a most intriguing race."

The lack of significant progress is a label Democrats will seek to pin on the Ehrlich administration, Mr. Kane said. Voters will see through that strategy, he said.

"Attempts by the liberal Democratic party to say that the governor has once again failed in Annapolis, I don't think will be met with any amount of resounding truth," Mr. Kane said.

Part of Mr. Ehrlich's message that will resonate, one that he sounded out before a business luncheon and at the Republican's Lincoln Day dinner in Walkersville, are the bad bills he saved the state from, Mr. Kane said.

"People ought to see that as a victory as much as his legislative successes," Mr. Kane said.

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