Steele stands by his man - Says no to 2004 Senate bid

ANNAPOLIS -- Despite intense encouragement by some state and national Republicans, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele will heed the wishes of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and not challenge U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski in next year's elections.

"No, I will not run for the United States Senate in 2004," Steele told The Gazette on Thursday. "I have to help my governor."

The governor's opposition and Steele's unwillingness to run deflate the hopes in some GOP circles that Maryland's first black lieutenant governor would take on the entrenched three-term senator from East Baltimore. But by nixing the idea, Ehrlich (R) sends a clear message that a recruiting effort was under way to woo Steele into a run in the hopes that the Republicans could ride their gubernatorial victory to another statewide office.

"He would be our dream candidate," said John M. Kane, chairman of Maryland Republican Party. But Steele "has conveyed his solid interest in remaining with the governor."

The governor and Steele have discussed the possibilities of a run for Mikulski's seat but decided that the team would stay together for the next four years, said Paul E. Schurick, Ehrlich's chief spokesman. "There is no way, no how" that Steele would run for the Senate in 2004, he emphasized.

Ehrlich and Steele aides agreed that their victory reinvigorated the state Republican Party, but they said a bloody U.S. Senate campaign would further complicate passage of the governor's agenda in the heavily Democratic state legislature.

"Everyone in the lieutenant governor's office is focused on one thing and one thing only, and that is balancing the state's budget," Schurick said. "Everything else at this point would be inappropriate."

Running next year may not be in Steele's plans, but asked about 2006, when U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D) is up for re-election, Steele said, "That's a whole new ballgame."

Mikulski, meanwhile, is known for her uncanny ability to use her fiery style to bridge the political spectrum, earning the trust of liberals from Montgomery County as well as the establishment in Baltimore. She is also a ranking member on key Appropriations subcommittees, which she chaired when Democrats held control of the Senate.

Mikulski, who will be 69 next year, is "definitely in the game" and "very eager and ready to run" for a fourth term, said a senior Mikulski aide, who asked to remain anonymous because a campaign team and formal spokesman have not been named yet.

"The senator is in tiptop shape and is taking on additional responsibilities and leadership," the aide said. "She is keeping a very visible and active schedule ... she is 100 percent committed to another campaign."

Asked about potential challengers, the aide said former Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry (D), whom Kane and others have been encouraging to switch parities and run, called Mikulski after reports surfaced that he was weighing a challenge next year and told her he was not interested.

"The senator and the former county executive had a very collegial conversation when he called and said he was not running against her," the Mikulski aide said.

Attempts to reach Curry were unsuccessful, but Kane and other Republicans say they are not ruling Curry out.

"Wayne has a lot of options before him at the moment," Kane said. "He is not sure what he wants to do yet."

Kane is seeking other candidates -- Republicans and Democrats -- to challenge Mikulski, including Potomac businessman Josh Rales, a relative newcomer to state politics. Rales is viewed by Kane and others in the GOP as a moderate with the financial wherewithal to mount a competitive statewide race.

Rales is also a campaign contributor, giving $500 each to Montgomery County Councilman Howard A. Denis (R-Dist. 1) of Chevy Chase and failed Republican House District 15 candidate William F. Askinazi, according to campaign finance reports. Rales also contributed $4,000 to Ehrlich's campaign.

"The party has come to me and would like me to consider this," said Rales, 45, who grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from the University of Virginia and Georgetown University's law school. "I agreed to consider it, but they have many options."

Rales said that although he has never practiced law, a legal background has proven valuable in his real estate business. He invests in apartment buildings in the Washington-Baltimore area. His brothers are founders of Danaher Co., a multimillion-dollar diversified manufacturing company based in Washington. Rales said he is a Danaher shareholder, but not a company officer or a member of its board of directors.

"I think the Republican Party in Maryland is going to make some major inroads in the state of Maryland over the next few years," he said. "More than ever, the average citizen is looking for someone who is candid and is going to deliver value."

The behind-the-scenes jockeying in the GOP comes more than a year before the March 2004 primaries, but with Steele and Curry out of the picture -- for now -- the GOP warns that Mikulski's re-election should not be seen as a given.

"In light of the gains we made in November, I would think that the Republican Party would attempt to mount a credible challenge to every Democrat incumbent," said Baltimore County Republican Party Chairman Donald Murphy, a former state delegate. Murphy helped engineer the defeat of former House Speaker Casper R. Taylor and other established Democrats like former Sens. Robert R. Neall and Walter M. Baker.

"No matter who the Republicans run, it will be irrelevant because they are not going to win -- it's a simple as that," said U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Dist. 5) of Mechanicsville.

State Senate Minority Whip Andrew P. Harris (R-Dist. 7) of Cockeysville also has been mentioned as a possible Mikulski challenger.

"The election of Bob Ehrlich has signaled that there is a definite sea change in Maryland politics, but the question remains if the change has been big enough for another Republican to win statewide," Harris said Thursday. "I think there are a number of Republicans who could mount a challenge against Sen. Mikulski. ... If there was an opportunity and the party came to me and wanted me to run, I would be honored."

Through an aide, U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-Dist. 6) of Frederick told The Gazette, "I haven't spoken to her, but I would urge and strongly encourage Republicans in Maryland to rally behind Connie Morella as a superb statewide candidate" against Mikulski.

Kane said it is too early to discuss Senate contenders, but with Steele staying put, there is another dream candidate:

This is wicked old but I don't think it's been posted previously. Steele would run well against Paul Sarbanes, I think.

Hopefully we'll have a decent candidate putting out a positive Republican message against Mikulski to keep the momentum going.

"She's kind of . . . you know . . . old. And liberal."

Kind of VERY OLD (5 years older than the midget Mikulski, 73 next year) and VERY liberal. She is absolutely the textbook example of RINO, an "R" after her name and not voting one whit with the GOP. One strong battle with the 'Rats that she disagreed with, and she'd bolt. There's literally no point to recruiting someone like this. The last Republican (ultra-RINO) Senator from MD was Mikulski's predecessor, Chuck Mathias. He was VERY uncomfortable remaining a Republican and only did so because he was a Chairman of a Committee in the '80s, he would've pulled a Jeffords if his vote had been crucial to handing control to the 'Rats, he chose to retire in '86 just as we lost control. Mathias, BTW, was MORE Conservative than Morella.

"I think the Republican Party in Maryland is going to make some major inroads in the state of Maryland over the next few years,"

And in a related development, I think that elephants will sprout wings and fly.

The election of Bob Ehrlich has signaled that there is a definite sea change in Maryland politics

I'm sorry but I will have to see more evidence before I'll believe that.

I haven't spoken to her, but I would urge and strongly encourage Republicans in Maryland to rally behind Connie Morella as a superb statewide candidate

Gag me with a spoon!

Look, I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, but the People's Republic of Maryland is a Socialist State and the demographics give no hope of any improvement in the foreseeable future.

Look, I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, but the People's Republic of Maryland is a Socialist State and the demographics give no hope of any improvement in the foreseeable future.

Um . . . people said that before the election in 2002. Something like "we have 2 Kennedys running Maryland and they're both going to be elected b/c this is a socialist state!"

Of course Ehrlich is now governor and Michael Steele will be a strong statewide candidate in future races.

It's not all about demographics, but still I don't think anyone's claiming Md will be a GOP state any time soon; a lot (decades) of work to be done w/ black voters before that.

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