By Ann E. Marimow and John Wagner
Thursday, July 6, 2006; B04

If few Maryland voters are familiar with the name Josh Rales , many more certainly will recognize the Montgomery County businessman and U.S. Senate candidate by the Sept. 12 primary.

Rales, one of 18 Democratic candidates for the open seat, yesterday launched ads in both the Washington and Baltimore media markets -- on cable and network television. An aide said Rales, who is pumping millions of his own money into the race, will be on the air in the Salisbury area later this month, and he's promising to remain on TV nonstop through Election Day.

"We will spend whatever we need to, to get the message out," said spokeswoman Alyson Chadwick .

That message, delivered in two 30-second spots, is more political than personal. In the first ad, Rales pledges to "vote to bring our troops home within a year" if elected to the Senate. Casually dressed in a blue button-down, with an American flag rippling in the background, Rales also says he'll press for alternative energy sources.

The second ad -- filmed in front of a gas pump that displays prices of more than $3 a gallon -- portrays Rales as an outsider not beholden to corporate interests.

"For decades, the oil industry has given millions in contributions to politicians," he says. "It's no surprise we're still held hostage to foreign oil."

A Washington Post poll conducted late last month showed Rales attracting only 1 percent of the vote among registered Democrats, putting him in the lowest tier of the six candidates included in the survey. Former congressman and NAACP leader Kweisi Mfume led Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin by six points, 31 to 25 percent, the survey showed. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

The good news for Rales: The survey suggests that a third of the primary electorate has yet to choose a candidate.

Jennifer Duffy , editor of the Cook Political Report, said Rales can skim votes from the front-runners if "he becomes seen as the alternative."

"I think the stars need to align for Rales to win the primary, but his willingness to spend his own money means that he can have an impact on the outcome," she said.

A spokesman for Cardin, a 10-term congressman who has led in fundraising, said the campaign is not surprised by the ads. "It will take more than an open checkbook to win this race," said Oren Shur. "Maryland voters are looking for a candidate who understands their concerns and has a record of getting things done."

Cardin has paid $680,000 to reserve TV time in Washington and Baltimore during the two weeks leading up to the primary.

The Rales campaign would not say yesterday how much it planned to spend on the ads, which were produced by veteran media strategist David Doak . A Federal Election Commission report filed June 30 showed that Rales had spent $1.4 million of his own money, including an $893,000 expenditure on June 29.

Anita Dunn , a media strategist who is not affiliated with a Senate candidate, said it's hard to predict how the ads will affect the contest, but she added, "It's a very different primary today than it was a week ago."

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) started running the second television ad of his reelection campaign yesterday, asserting that he is "changing Maryland for the better" and deserves another term.

The 30-second spot, airing only in the Baltimore media market, tells of progress in areas including cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay, public school funding and state support for stem cell research. The ad's visuals include snippets from newspaper stories, including praise from Democratic Comptroller William Donald Schaefer . Though Ehrlich and Schaefer have been allies on many issues in recent years, Schaefer recently released a statement saying he would support the Democratic nominee for governor.

The statement did not mention the presumptive Democratic nominee, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley , with whom Schaefer has had a frosty relationship.

Comptroller William Donald Schaefer teed off on immigrants again yesterday, complaining at a Board of Public Works meeting about the cost of educating their children.

"I get so irritated that we just open the borders, let everybody in, put everybody in the schools, educate them, all that sort of stuff, and that's the way it is," Schaefer, 84, said in comments reported by the Associated Press. "And Americans [are] going to have to bear the cost."

Schaefer's remarks came as the three-member board, on which he sits, was approving a contract for English language proficiency tests for the state's 30,000 students taking such classes.

Schaefer, who faces two Democratic primary challengers, sparked controversy in 2004 when he recounted an encounter with a McDonald's clerk who he said had difficulty speaking English.

Yesterday's outburst brought a sharp rebuke from one of his opponents, Del. Peter Franchot (D-Montgomery).

"This is the latest in a long line of inexcusable events that has cast serious doubts on William Donald Schaefer's mental and emotional fitness for the office of comptroller," Franchot said in a statement.

Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens is also seeking the Democratic nomination.

Staff writer Claudia Deane and the Associated Press contributed to this report.