Bennett Bozman's tough campaign trail

BENNETT BOZMAN knows he's fighting an uphill battle.

The Worcester County Democrat is vying for U.S. Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest's First District seat, but he has got little time and less name recognition.

He says he has raised $60,000 for his quest, but spent half of that winning a close Democratic primary election. He's a known commodity in his hometown of Berlin, the quaint, small-town locale that Julia Roberts and Richard Gere put on the map in the film "The Runway Bride." But his name hardly registers in households this side of the shore.

Delegate Bozman, a pharmacist, has no prescription for curing his stagnant campaign in five weeks, although he would seem a perfect match for Mr. Gilchrest: Both are affable. Mr. Bozman is a conservative Democrat and Mr. Gilchrest is a moderate Republican.

The Eastern Shore's elderly population is furious at congressional Republicans over the high cost of medical care, so Mr. Gilchrest incurs the wrath.

Also, the incumbent is fighting to de-authorize federal money for a port of Baltimore dredging project that many constituents on both sides of the shore believe is key to the port's perpetual vitality.

Still, Mr. Gilchrest is coasting without much of a threat.

Some may suggest that this is not a problem for Mr. Bozman. Under this theory, he can run a good campaign, gain visibility and then run again in two years.

But Mr. Bozman says that's not his campaign's intent.

"I'm in this to win this time," he insisted in a telephone conversation. "A lot of people say, `You're just trying to get your name out there to run in the next election,' but that's not true."

Mr. Bozman, 64, is a former Worcester County commissioner and has served as president of the Maryland Association of Counties. He was elected to the state legislature from the 38th District in 1990 and has regularly been the top vote-getter among candidates for the three seats. He sits the House of Delegates' Ways and Means Committee.

He's in tune with much of the Eastern Shore on many issues. He's against abortion, except in instances of rape or incest; he's against gun control. But he supports affirmative action. He's conservative on tax issues.

He retired from his pharmacy career - he has owned a pharmacy and has worked in a chain operation - to run for Congress.

He says concerns about health coverage and the rising costs of prescription drugs for elderly Eastern Shore residents prompted his congressional candidacy.

"I got so upset two years ago when the people kept coming to me and saying, `I'm losing my prescription coverage,'" Mr. Bozman said. "Mostly this was from people who called me at home and asked what I could do."

Many of them complained that prescription drug costs were rising. "People who were paying no premiums had to pay $25 a month and then $40 a month. Then the ultimate happened. Insurance companies were telling them, `We're not going to cover you no matter how much you pay.'"

He said the response from Mr. Gilchrest and, eventually, the Republican Congress, was insufficient to meet needs on the Eastern Shore, among the nation's hardest hit areas for Medicare benefits.

State legislators have done much better, he argues, in meeting those needs.

But Mr. Bozman hasn't got much attention on this shore for the state legislation, which discounted prescription drugs for seniors.

In fact, if people in Annapolis recognize his name, it might be for his infamous encounter with William Donald Schaefer when he was a rookie state delegate.

You might remember that strange brush with then-Governor Schaefer.

It was February 1991. Maryland's elected officials were gathered in Annapolis for Lucille Maurer's inauguration as state treasurer. Mr. Schaefer was upset, as usual - this time steaming because state voters had elected him by only a 60-percent majority two months earlier. He thought he deserved every vote, possibly even his opponent's.

What really ticked off the former governor and current state comptroller was that seven Eastern Shore counties had the audacity to favor his opponent.

So as Mr. Schaefer headed down the House chamber past Eastern Shore delegates and senators - including Delegate Bozman - he made perhaps his all-time worst publicly quoted statement. He remarked: "How's that s--- house of an Eastern Shore?"

Mr. Bozman would hate to be most remembered for being on the receiving end of that tasteless, insulting comment.

But Mr. Bozman hasn't taken advantage of opportunities. For instance, he hasn't capitalized on Mr. Gilchrest's plan to de-fund dredging of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and the Tolchester Channel (a position that may be correct theoretically but unfair to Baltimore).

Mr. Bozman has solid enough environmental credentials to challenge his opponent on that point, but he hasn't been forceful.

Unless he ignites his campaign quickly - and gets some help doing it - his 1st District campaign will wither, joining the growing list of feeble campaigns against the popular Mr. Gilchrest.

Norris West writes editorials for The Sun from Anne Arundel County.