On Heels Of Ehrlich, GOP Plans Md. Ascent

When longtime state Sen. Robert H. Kittleman died in 2004, he left behind blueprints for turning Maryland into a Republican stronghold. They were found clipped to political maps and census data on a shelf in his Howard County farmhouse.

Kittleman's son says his father knew these were fanciful plans -- that it could take generations to turn Maryland from one of the nation's most reliably Democratic states to one where Republicans compete on equal footing for political power.

But this year, as Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. becomes the first Republican governor in half a century to seek a second term, top party leaders are dusting off Kittleman's dreams. True party realignment remains a distant goal, they say, but the political season that begins as the General Assembly convenes Wednesday will be guided by their desire for lasting influence in state affairs.

"We've been in the desert for 36 years," said John Kane, the state GOP chairman. "The governor has given us a toehold. Now we'll see if we can become truly relevant."

Maryland Republicans say the model for what's possible sits just across the Potomac River. In Virginia, GOP leaders toiled for decades to climb from the back benches of power to ultimately control both legislative chambers.

A similar effort in Maryland faces significant obstacles. An election defeat for Ehrlich this year, first and foremost, would set back any attempt to gain Republican footing. Demographics also pose a challenge. Unlike Virginia, this is a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1 on voter rolls. And in the state's three largest jurisdictions -- Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore -- Democrats have widened that advantage in recent years.

But top Republican officials said the party is borrowing many of the ideas that started Virginia down the path to realignment three decades ago.

In addition to their focus on the Maryland governor's race, they believe the bid by Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R) to capture an open U.S. Senate seat could provide inroads into the state's most reliable Democratic voters: African Americans. The GOP is targeting the state's populous blue-collar suburbs and fast-growing exurbs, where party leaders hope to pick up as many as 14 seats in the House of Delegates and seven in the Senate this November.

And they're already contemplating 2010, when a win in the governor's column could give them control over redistricting and crack open a state where, just a few years ago, Republicans felt like foreigners.

Richard E. Hug, the fundraising muscle behind Ehrlich's 2002 and 2006 campaigns, still remembers how he felt shortly after the 1994 election, when Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey narrowly lost to Parris N. Glendening. Not long after, Hug was at dinner with James S. Gilmore III, who was then Virginia attorney general and went on to become governor.

"I was bemoaning the fact that, you know, we lost, whereas these guys in Virginia had done such a good job, and I asked him, 'How did you guys do that?' " Hug recalled. "He said, 'Dick, it just takes time, patience, and a lot of hard work. You guys can do the same thing.' "

Twenty years ago, most greeted the notion of political realignment in Virginia as a harebrained idea, said S. Vance Wilkins Jr., the former House speaker who is largely credited with orchestrating the Republican takeover there.