Session's End Ignites Race For Governor

Md. Candidates Shift Themes Toward Election

Shortly before 6 a.m. yesterday, as the last of the partygoers were stumbling home from the celebrations that followed the end of the 2006 Maryland General Assembly session, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s campaign team let fly an e-mail requesting cash.

The 90-day ban on political fundraising had ended at midnight Monday, a session of partisan division was behind him and Ehrlich made clear in a video message sent via e-mail that his eyes are focused on the campaign trail that lies ahead.

"This is going to be a real contrast election," Ehrlich mused during a freewheeling, 40-minute press briefing yesterday. "The people of Maryland deserve this."

Ehrlich and the Democrats vying to unseat him said yesterday they believe that this year's rancorous session provided a strong backdrop for the political season ahead. To the governor, it provided evidence of a Democratic Party on a leftward philosophical slide. To his Democratic rivals, there was proof that the state's first Republican governor in a generation cannot work with others to find consensus.

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan said: "Annapolis has become more dysfunctional every year he is in office. The governor has to set the tone, to lead, and he's brought gridlock."

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley said that "instead of bringing people together and offering compromise, Bob Ehrlich has sided with his special-interest friends and offered partisan politics."

With five months until the primary election, and, as Ehrlich noted in his e-mail, "only 211 days to the election," the three gubernatorial candidates are pivoting into a more aggressive campaign push.

At this stage, that still means a focus on raising money. As of the most recent report in January, Ehrlich had $8.4 million in the bank, compared with $4.2 million for O'Malley and $1.4 million for Duncan.

In an e-mail sent yesterday, O'Malley's running mate, Anthony G. Brown, announced a "massive online fundraising effort" launched to counter Ehrlich's.

Brown's solicitation said thousands of donations of as little as $25 were needed to counter Ehrlich's "$100,000 parties at the homes of special-interest leaders."

"This governor may not be good at leading, but he is one fantastic fundraiser," the solicitation said.

But money is far from the only focus. Ehrlich said yesterday that he has lawyers who are closely studying the law passed late Monday, over his veto, that spells out polling places that will open a week before Election Day. Democrats have said that early voting will drive up turnout, and the polling locations were selected to put voting booths within easy reach of mass transit and population centers.