Duncan Drops Bid for Governor

Several people close to Duncan said that over the years, they had observed "blue phases" or "funks" when Duncan was emotionally down for extended periods. He has spent nearly a quarter-century in public life, first on the Rockville City Council, then as that city's mayor, then as county executive. But none of that rivaled a gubernatorial bid, friends said.

In recent months, Duncan struggled to muster the enthusiasm to make fundraising calls and attend campaign events, aides said. His wife had started calling potential donors for him in the past week.

"It wasn't the same Doug Duncan," said Anita Dunn, his campaign media consultant.

County Councilman Steven A. Silverman (D-At Large) said there's no question that campaign difficulties would have added to the pressure Duncan felt. But in the end, he said, he believes Duncan's decision to withdraw from the governor's race, as surprising as it might have been, had nothing to do with political calculations.

Although attitudes about mental illness have evolved since 1972, when Democratic vice presidential nominee Tom Eagleton was forced off the ticket after disclosing previous electroshock therapy treatments for depression, it can still carry a stigma.

"You don't get up in front of the whole world to announce that you are clinically depressed if you are really withdrawing for some other reason," Silverman said. "It was a gutsy thing he did, to stand up there and say he was going to seek treatment. A lot of people never do -- and some don't get out of this disease alive."

Staff writer Jo Becker contributed to this report.