Race For Governor

Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., the Republican Party's leading potential contender for governor in 2002, will fall significantly short of the fund-raising goal he set for this year, his campaign finance chairman acknowledged yesterday. Richard E. Hug, a veteran GOP fund-raiser, said Ehrlich would finish this year closer to $1 million than $2 million - the amount he has indicated it would take to sway him to enter the race. "I doubt if we're going to reach $2 million, but we'll certainly be in seven figures by the end of the year," Hug said.

ON THE surface, she's the favorite in next year's race for governor of Maryland. But Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has significant hurdles to clear before then. It's a long time before we reach Election Day. Lieutenant Governor Townsend needs to work on her weaknesses if she hopes to avoid the numerous pitfalls that lie ahead. She's got to continue building an image of invincibility in an attempt to chase potential rivals from the field. That's why her disciples keep telling politicians to get on the Townsend bandwagon before it's too late.

HE WALKED AWAY from the governor's race in 1986 -- and again in 1998, though many in his party thought he was the best qualified. Benjamin L. Cardin knew it. As speaker of the House of Delegates, he had been one of the state's top political leaders for a decade. But he wouldn't go after the top job. Critics said he didn't have the stomach. "Risk averse," they called him and not in a nice way. Wise and prudent were better descriptions. Smart politician fits as well. Survivor, too. In truth, he may have always been a legislator at heart.

Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey has taken a clear lead over Gov. Parris N. Glendening in broadcast television spending in what promises to be the most expensive political media blitz in Maryland's history.With a month remaining before Election Day, Sauerbrey has spent almost $2 million for general election advertising on the top television stations in the Baltimore and Washington markets -- more than the $1.8 million she raised for all purposes in 1994.Meanwhile, Glendening has spent slightly less than $1.5 million at the eight stations for advertising since the Sept.

Resisting the allure of a more winnable contest, Harford County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann resolved again yesterday to oust her party's incumbent governor, Parris N. Glendening -- a decision that promises a spirited Democratic gubernatorial primary.The death of Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein on Friday presented unexpected opportunity which, Rehrmann said, a number of Democrats urged her to take.But she said voters across the state are hungry for the reliability she promises."We have a governor who's more interested in his future than Maryland's future," she said.

Even as Marylanders were mourning the death Friday of Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein, the state's major political parties turned quickly yesterday to look for candidates who might compete for his mantle in the November election.With the stakes high for Democrats and Republicans -- and the state filing deadline fast approaching tomorrow at 9 p.m. -- efforts to recruit well-known candidates were unsuccessful for both parties as of last night.Influential Democrats urged Harford County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann to abandon her primary challenge to Gov. Parris N. Glendening and run instead for the post Goldstein held for almost 40 years.

A national group that fights election fraud announced plans yesterday to use 5,000 volunteers to monitor polling places in Maryland's coming election for governor -- an effort to prevent the kind of fraud accusations that marred the 1994 vote.The Voting Integrity Project, based in Arlington, Va., has made news in San Francisco, Louisiana and Virginia since its creation in 1996. The group calls itself nonpartisan, but some Democrats have accused it of having a conservative agenda.Its Maryland program will be headed by Drake Ferguson, who previously chaired Voters Organized Toward Election Reform, a group formed in response to Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey's narrow loss to Democrat Parris N. Glendening in the 1994 governor's race.

Two hundred of Maryland's most enthusiastic Republicans gathered this weekend for their state convention to schmooze, swap war stories and pledge unity for the election ahead.Some party leaders blame Ellen R. Sauerbrey's narrow loss in the 1994 governor's race on the divisiveness that spilled over from a bitter primary election battle against Helen Delich Bentley, who did not endorse Sauerbrey.L But this year, there seems little danger of a similar split.At the BWI Sheraton yesterday, yellow-and-black Sauerbrey stickers were even more prevalent than the red ties and elephant jewelry favored by GOP faithful.

Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker, a Republican known for his blend of folksy wit and fiscal savvy, will formally enter the race for governor with an announcement in Ellicott City on Wednesday.Republican Party leaders consider Ecker, 68, a long shot against 1994 gubernatorial nominee Ellen R. Sauerbrey, 60. Even some of his closest allies in Howard tried to talk him out of running after a poll in July showed Sauerbrey's popularity high among party faithful.Ecker was an untried political player in 1990 when he upset an incumbent county executive.

THE 1998 RACE for governor, which might have begun a few hours after the 1994 race for governor ended, is taking on a certain edge.Ellen R. Sauerbrey, bidding fair to be the GOP candidate in 1998 just as she was in 1994, has so far been notably temperate in commenting on Gov. Parris N. Glendening's handling of the Pfiesteria piscicida scare.The problem is serious, vexing and in need of the best scientific minds, she has been saying. Yesterday, though, she wondered if it isn't time for Glendening to reopen one of the rivers he closed out of public health concerns.