The two Democrats who would be governor had just finished making the rounds in a large banquet room when Maryland Comptroller William Donald Schaefer took the stage.
Minutes into his rambling talk, Schaefer (D) committed what would have been considered a major faux pas coming from most any other politician: He showered praise on a Republican his party is trying to unseat next year -- Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
"He's done a marvelous job," Schaefer told the crowd of about 500 municipal officials. "He's done a marvelous job."
Since his arrival in office in 2003, Ehrlich has worked hard to court the affections of the cantankerous former governor and former mayor of Baltimore, and last month's validation in Ocean City was among the latest fruit to emerge from those labors.
More can be seen on TV. The 83-year-old Schaefer -- a longtime contrarian who feuded openly with the state's last Democratic governor, Parris N. Glendening, and who skipped last year's Democratic National Convention after a spat with party leaders -- is appearing alongside Ehrlich in a campy commercial. In it, the two show up unannounced at a family's home -- before 6 a.m. -- to help pack their car for a beach weekend.
There's also a radio version of the ad, as well as a billboard in Baltimore featuring Ehrlich and Schaefer that could be mistaken for an endorsement from a Democrat who backed President George H.W. Bush.
The $600,000 advertising campaign is part of a state effort to encourage beachgoers to travel at off-peak hours and take other steps to reduce backups on the overburdened Chesapeake Bay Bridge. But Democrats have said the ads represent another attempt by Ehrlich to promote himself at public expense.
Schaefer's involvement, they have said, is particularly troubling because of the signal it sends: He represents a conservative wing of the Democratic Party, whose crossover votes will be crucial to Ehrlich's chances of reelection in a state where Democrats hold a nearly 2-to-1 edge over Republicans in registration.
"I don't know that William Donald Schaefer understands the effect of what he's doing, and quite frankly, I don't know that he cares," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), who credits Ehrlich with having "seduced" the comptroller. "As a political strategy, it's worked very well."
It would be difficult for Ehrlich to have a worse relationship with Schaefer than Glendening had.
In Schaefer's mind, the dysfunction was symbolized by Glendening's decision to turn off an ornate fountain, on the lawn of the governor's mansion, that had been commissioned by Hilda Mae Snoops, Schaefer's longtime companion.
Glendening -- whom Schaefer referred to as "that dummy" during an interview for this article -- cited drought-related restrictions. Schaefer saw other motives.
