ANNAPOLIS- Candidates in next year’s two major statewide political races have reset the Maryland political clock to an unprecedented extent this year, announcing their candidacies and launching their campaigns earlier than ever before.
Though the primary election is not until September of next year and the general still more than a year away in November, all the major candidates in both the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate campaigns have formally announced their bids, with one major exception – Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., the Republican incumbent whose intention to seek re-election is regarded as a foregone conclusion.
The latest to jump in was Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who announced his long anticipated candidacy for the GOP nomination for the Senate on Tuesday and then embarked on a two-day campaign tour. He found plenty of potential opposition waiting for him. Five candidates have already announced in the Democratic primary.
“This time frame is all brand new,” said Bruce Bereano, a veteran Annapolis lobbyist and campaign fundraiser. He said the 2006 election “if not in full swing, is in three-quarter swing.”
Former Governor Marvin Mandel, whose last campaign was over 30 years ago, remembers a more traditional time frame for official announcements, one attuned to the rhythms of the annual 90-day session of the General Assembly, which ends in April.
“People would usually wait until session was over,” Mandel recalled, mainly because candidates who were members of the Legislature could not raise money during the session.”
Likewise, Delegate Henry B. Heller, D-Montgomery, who served in the House for almost 20 years, remembers a more leisurely and later beginning to the political season.
“Statewide candidates (filed) just before the session; and state house candidates (filed) last couple weeks of session, March or April,” he said. “Why we’re starting the elections a year ahead of time? I don’t know. At the House of Delegates, people are filing already. That’s very unusual.”
This year, political observers say, the timing has been pushed forward for two key reasons. First, both the senate and governor’s races will be highly competitive and have already aroused an intense degree of public interest, even beyond Maryland. And second, both races will require lots of money.
Indeed, one of the unspoken reasons why leading Maryland Democrats have been pushing a plan to move up the primary from September to June of 2006 is to give the winners of what are expected to be tough Democratic primaries for both governor and senator time to rest, regroup and replenish their war chests.
Beyond that, there is what Bereano called the “domino effect.” When candidates announce for higher office, those down the ladder who had been patiently waiting their turn see a chance to climb up.
For example, on March 11 Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (D) announced he would not seek re-election to a sixth term. Three days later – and nearly 20 months before the 2006 general election – former NAACP head Kwiesi Mfume announced he would be a candidate for Sarbanes’ seat. A month later, Representative Benjamin L. Cardin, D – 3rd, got into the race.
With Cardin’s Third District congressional seat now open, a half dozen candidates quickly announced for it, including Baltimore’s health commissioner, Dr. Peter L. Beilenson (June 22), Anne Arundel County Councilman Bill D. Burlison (July 2) and state Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, D-Baltimore (July 14).
And the last to announce for Cardin’s seat, on Wednesday, was Paul Sarbanes’ son, John P. Sarbanes.
“When you have a competitive election, getting an early start is important,” James Gimpel, a government and politics professor at the University of Maryland, said. “A competitive election goes hand in hand with announcing early.”
“There is an intensity this year that you didn’t see in other years,” said political commentator Frank A. DeFilippo, who was Mandel’s chief of staff and political strategist. “Not only are voters intensely watching Maryland, but the White House has a stake in the elections as well”
On top of all this is the problem of raising money.
Maryland campaign finance laws limit the amounts of money corporations and individuals can give over a four year period. This, Bereano said, means that candidates have to go to the well before it runs dry.
“Someone running for statewide office that requires significant funds needs to get out there while there is still money to solicit,” he said.
State Sen. Richard F. Colburn, an Eastern Shore Republican, said that both Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley and Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan needed to get into the Democratic primary early because one or the other will be facing a well-financed incumbent. “The governor (Ehrlich) is going to raise a lot of money and he doesn’t have a primary,” Colburn said. “O’Malley and Duncan will have to raise a tremendous war chest to get through the primary election and then the general election. It takes time to raise money.”