Virtually every segment of Maryland's old Democratic coalition, the president of the United States and some newly developed allies helped Gov. Parris N. Glendening to a second term.
Glendening's victory over Republican challenger Ellen R. Sauerbrey was more decisive than expected and seems to have benefited from widespread unhappiness with the Republican Congress and its pursuit of President Clinton.
Exit polling showed Glendening with nearly a 2-to-1 lead among voters who disapproved of Congress' performance. A visit by Clinton on Sunday helped Democratic partisans capture the unhappiness and translate it into votes.
Glendening's campaign included a highly disciplined get-out-the-vote effort among religious and civic organizations in Baltimore and the singular backing of Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who worked unstintingly for the governor -- even as Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and other Democratic leaders held back.
Polls showed 90 percent of African-Americans, the most reliable of Democratic loyalists, going for Glendening. Unions, women and urban voters appeared to be solidly in his camp as well.
And in Montgomery Sauerbrey had hopes of improving her 1994 showing, but instead the push from Duncan and others gave Glendening a bigger margin of the votes there -- 62 percent vs. 59 percent in 1994.
Sauerbrey's early success at attracting Marylanders to her second try for the State House melted in the latter third of the race as Glendening focused sharply on her record of votes against civil rights bills when she was a state legislator.
Sauerbrey accused Glendening of inciting racial fears, but the governor's tactic apparently worked.
"I was going to vote for that woman," said Mary Rice, a 36-year-old African-American from Baltimore, "but then I saw on television she was against civil rights. I know what Glendening is going to do. I don't know what she's going to do."
Though voters remained cool to Glendening as a personality, many were drawn to improvements he claimed in the state's system of public education and to a robust job market.
"I didn't vote for him with much passion," said Carol Brewer, a 52-year-old retired teacher who spoke outside a polling place at Lutherville Elementary School, "but the policies he supports are closer to what I see as my philosophy of government."
In the most costly and negative gubernatorial campaign in Maryland history, Glendening's late-inning effort seemed to persuade voters that Sauerbrey was not the benign figure presented in her widely acclaimed early commercials.
"SHE'S BACK!" declared an ad that went on to describe her as a threat to abortion rights and civil rights across the board.
Even those who voted for the 61-year-old Republican had reservations: "Ellen scares me because I'm an engineer and she's probably going to kill some projects, like [replacing] Cole Field House," said Richard Hillis, a 50-year-old civil engineer. But he said he voted for her because she was "a person of integrity."
Hillis said he turned away from Glendening because the governor, when he was Prince George's County executive, arranged a generous pension payout for himself and left a large budget deficit.
These issues appeared to be major vulnerabilities for Glendening at the beginning of the race -- and may have kept it close even as the state's economy boomed.
As the battle was joined over the last month, though, Sauerbrey failed to take full advantage of the opportunities that were presented. And many thought she was thrown "off message" by Glendening's counterattack.
As if her strategists could not decide between the softer image they had created for her early in the campaign and a tougher one that would have been demanded by an unrestrained attack strategy, her campaign appeared to stall.
Keith Haller, president of Potomac Survey Research, said Sauerbrey's team appeared off balance and without an answer to Glendening's frontal TV assault over the last weeks of the campaign. There were many signs that Sauerbrey could manage an upset -- until unhappiness with Congress landed in the electorate like a "a match in gasoline," Haller said.
A key to the Glendening victory was the firing of his media adviser and the hiring of Robert Shrum, one of the most effective professionals in the business.
Until then, many on Glendening's side had been saying her TV was better than his. Shrum mounted a succession of blistering commercials suggesting Sauerbrey was just short of a racist Philistine, an opponent of women and the exemplar of the most retrograde forces in Maryland.
Baltimore Democratic Del. Maggie L. McIntosh says Shrum was able to build a negative image of her without appearing to demonize her -- allowing voters to make up their own minds -- never calling her an "extremist." The idea was to make it add up to that picture without angering the weary, oversaturated voter.
Voters were alternately turned off and philosophical about the negative tone of the campaign.
"I don't like negative campaigning," said Geoff Braybrooke, 44, industrial hygienist with the U.S. Army who lives in Fells Point. "I'd much prefer the candidates simply say what they stand for. I think there's a lot of it going around. A lot of it over the last few elections. I guess it just caught on here."
Faye Freedman, a resident of the Leisure World retirement community in Montgomery County, said of Glendening's ads: "It's not negative. It's politics -- make the other guy look bad."
The drumbeat of negativity allowed Glendening to escape his own image problems and to overcome the worst gaffe of the campaign: when he put himself firmly on both sides of the Clinton-Lewinsky controversy.
First, he angered those outraged by the president's conduct by restating his support for Clinton. Then, with the Starr report pending and thought to be explosive, he switched, calling Clinton a poor role model for the nation's youth and refusing to appear with the president at a Silver Spring event.
And finally, when Clinton remained very popular among core Democratic voters, Glendening switched again.
Sauerbrey's worst moments came in the last third of the campaign when she misquoted House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. on the cost of public transportation -- the need to raise taxes. Sauerbrey said that if the quote was wrong, it would be corrected -- but then it wasn't.
And her attack on Glendening over building "stadiums instead of schools" misfired.
Again, that slip seemed to take her away from a productive theme: that she knew what needed to be done in the state's classrooms.
Voters knew she was on to something there -- that mere school buildings are not the answer. But suddenly she was talking about bricks and mortar more than reading, writing and arithmetic.
Sauerbrey's willingness to consider installation of slot machines at Maryland's racetracks positioned her well to take the pro-gambling vote. But the issue was not among those prominently identified as important to Marylanders.
She needed more voters like Coleen Morgan, a 25-year-old medical biller who voted at Lutherville Elementary School. She said she voted for Glendening in 1994 but voted for Sauerbrey yesterday.
"I'm sick of Glendening," said Morgan, a Republican. "Glendening did a lot of things I wasn't particularly fond of."
But many of the more highly educated voters, according to the exit polling data, moved to Glendening with more gusto.
"I think he's done a reasonably good job," said Braybrooke, the industrial hygienist in Fells Point. "I wouldn't call him a great governor, but I'm happy with the way he's worked."
The decidedly conservative Sauerbrey did not persuade him that she's moderated her views -- a key objective of her campaign.
"I get the impression that she's making herself out to be more moderate than she actually is," he said. "I think she's going beyond her own beliefs. She's considerably to the right of what she claims to be standing for now."
In the end, many Glendening voters may have come to his side for reasons much like those of Dr. Ronald Council, 20-year Silver Spring resident who voted at Shaare Tefila Synagogue:
"Because I like him? No. But you have to vote for who they give you, and I don't believe all the adverse things that have been said about him. He's been tried under fire."
A century of governor's races
Below is a look at gubernatorial races dating to 1903. The closest was in 1919, when Albert C. Ritchie beat Harry W. Nice by 165 votes. By contrast, William Donald Schaefer defeated Thomas J. Mooney in 1986 by more than 700,000 votes.
.. Edwin Warfield (D) .. .. .. .. .. 108,548 .. .. .. 53.1%
.. .. . Stevenson A. Williams (R) .. .. .. 95,923 .. .. .. 46.9
1907 .. Austin L. Crothers (D) .. .. .. . 102,051 .. .. .. 52.0
.. .. . George R. Gaither .. .. .. .. .. . 94,300 .. .. .. 48.0
1911 .. Phillips Lee Goldsborough(R) .. . 106,392 .. .. .. 50.7
.. .. . Arthur Pue Gorman (D) .. .. .. .. 103,395 .. .. .. 49.3
1915 .. Emerson C. Harrington (D) .. .. . 119,317 .. .. .. 50.7
.. .. . Ovington E. Weller (R) .. .. .. . 116,316 .. .. .. 49.3
1919 .. Albert C. Ritchie (D) .. .. .. .. 112,240 .. .. . 50.04
.. .. . Harry W. Nice (R) .. .. .. .. ... 112,075 .. .. . 49.96
1923 .. Albert C. Ritchie (D) .. .. .. .. 177,871 .. .. .. 56.4
.. .. . Alexander Armstrong (R) .. .. ... 137,471 .. .. .. 43.6
1926 .. Albert C. Ritchie (D) .. .. .. .. 207,435 .. .. .. 58.3
.. .. . Addison E. Mullikin (R) .. .. ... 148,145 .. .. .. 41.7
1930 .. Albert C. Ritchie (D) .. .. .. .. 283,639 .. .. .. 56.7
.. .. . William F. Broening (R) .. .. ... 216,864 .. .. .. 43.3
1934 .. Harry W. Nice (R) .. .. .. .. ... 253,813 .. .. .. 50.6
.. .. . Albert C. Ritchie (D) .. .. .. .. 247,664 .. .. .. 49.4
1938 .. Herbert R. O'Conor (D) .. .. .. . 308,372 .. .. .. 56.0
.. .. . Harry W. Nice (R) .. .. .. .. ... 242,095 .. .. .. 44.0
1942 .. Herbert R. O'Conor (D) .. .. .. . 198,488 .. .. .. 52.6
.. .. . Theodore R. McKeldin (R) .. .. .. 179,204 .. .. .. 47.4
1946 .. William Preston Lane Jr. (D) .. . 268,084 .. .. .. 53.7
.. .. . Theodore R. McKeldin (R) .. .. .. 221,752 .. .. .. 46.3
1950 .. Theodore R. McKeldin (R) .. .. .. 369,807 .. .. .. 57.3
.. .. . William Preston Lane Jr. (D) .. . 275,824 .. .. .. 42.7
1954 .. Theodore R. McKeldin (R) .. .. .. 381,451 .. .. .. 54.5
.. .. . Harry Clifton Byrd (D) .. .. .. . 319,033 .. .. .. 45.5
1958 .. J. Millard Tawes (D) .. .. .. ... 485,061 .. .. .. 63.6
.. .. . James P. S. Devereaux (R) .. .. . 278,173 .. .. .. 36.4
1962 .. J. Millard Tawes (D) .. .. .. ... 428,071 .. . ... 55.6
.. .. . Frank Small Jr. (R) .. .. .. .. . 341,271 .. .. .. 44.4
1966 .. Spiro T. Agnew (R) .. .. .. .. .. 455,318 .. .. .. 49.5
.. .. . George P. Mahoney (D) .. .. .. .. 373,543 .. .. .. 40.6
.. .. . Hyman A. Pressman (I) .. .. .. ... 90,899 .. .. ... 9.9
1970 .. Marvin Mandel (D) .. .. .. .. ... 639,579 .. .. .. 65.7
.. .. . C. Stanley Blair (R) .. .. .. ... 314,366 .. .. .. 32.3
.. .. . Robert Woods Merkle (A) .. .. .. . 19,184 .. .. ... 2.0
1974 .. Marvin Mandel (D) .. .. .. .. ... 602,648 .. .. .. 63.5
.. .. . Louise Gore (R) .. . .. .. .. ... 346,449 .. .. .. 36.5
1978 .. Harry Hughes (D) .. .. .. .. .. . 718,328 .. .. .. 71.0
.. .. . J. Glenn Beall Jr. (R) .. .. .. . 293,635 .. .. .. 29.0
1982 .. Harry Hughes (D) .. .. .. .. .. . 705,910 .. .. .. 61.9
.. .. . Robert A. Pascal (R) .. .. .. ... 432,826 .. .. .. 38.1
1986 .. William Donald Schaefer (D) .. .. 907,301 .. .. .. 82.4
.. .. . Thomas J. Mooney (R) .. .. .. ... 194,187 .. .. .. 17.6
1990 .. William Donald Schaefer (D) .. .. 664,015 .. .. .. 59.8
.. .. . William S. Shepard (R) .. .. .. . 446,980 .. .. .. 40.2
1994 .. Parris N. Glendening (D) .. .. .. 708,094 .. .. .. 50.2
.. .. . Ellen R. Sauerbrey (R) .. .. .. . 702,101 .. .. .. 49.8
Maryland governor
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. TP .. ..PR .. Glendening .. Pct .. Sauerbrey .. Pct
Western Maryland
Allegany .. .. .. .. .. 36 .. . 36 .. .. 10,970 .. . 52 .. .. 10,181 ... 48
Frederick .. .. .. .. . 51 .. . 51 .. .. 21,022 .. . 40 .. .. 31,116 ... 60
Garrett .. .. .. .. ... 16 .. . 16 .. ... 2,874 .. . 36 .. ... 5,053 ... 64
Washington .. .. .. ... 43 .. . 43 .. .. 13,160 .. . 40 .. .. 19,915 ... 60
Reg Totals .. .. .. .. 146 ... 146 .. .. 48,026 .. . 42 .. .. 66,265 ... 58
Eastern Maryland
Caroline .. .. .. .. ... 9 .. .. 9 .. ... 2,179 .. . 33 .. ... 4,470 ... 67
Cecil .. .. .. .. .. .. 14 .. . 14 .. ... 8,104 .. . 41 .. .. 11,771 ... 59
Dorchester .. .. .. ... 36 .. . 36 .. ... 4,143 .. . 47 .. ... 4,745 ... 53
Kent .. .. .. .. .. ... 10 .. . 10 .. ... 2,813 .. . 43 .. ... 3,690 ... 57
Queen Anne's .. .. .. . 11 .. . 11 .. ... 4,696 .. . 37 .. ... 7,936 ... 63
Somerset .. .. .. .. .. 22 .. . 22 .. ... 2,331 .. . 39 .. ... 3,655 ... 61
Talbot .. .. .. .. .. . 16 .. . 16 .. ... 4,196 .. . 37 .. ... 7,038 ... 63
Wicomico .. .. .. .. .. 34 .. . 34 .. ... 9,179 .. . 44 .. .. 11,902 ... 56
Worcester .. .. .. .. . 12 .. . 12 .. ... 6,571 .. . 45 .. ... 8,130 ... 55
Reg Totals .. .. .. .. 164 ... 164 .. .. 44,212 .. . 41 .. .. 63,337 ... 59
Central Maryland
Anne Arundel .. .. ... 166 ... 166 .. .. 64,652 .. . 43 .. .. 84,186 ... 57
Baltimore Co. .. .. .. 187 ... 187 .. . 115,851 .. . 50 .. . 118,009 ... 50
Baltimore .. .. .. ... 325 ... 325 .. . 126,148 .. . 81 .. .. 29,812 ... 19
Carroll .. .. .. .. ... 43 .... 43 .. .. 14,376 .. . 31 .. .. 31,330 ... 69
Harford .. .. .. .. ... 57 .. . 57 .. .. 27,617 .. . 39 .. .. 42,708 ... 61
Howard .. .. .. .. .. . 85 .. . 85 .. .. 42,751 .. . 54 .. .. 37,127 ... 46
Reg Totals .. .. .. .. 863 ... 863 .. . 391,395 .. . 53 .. . 343,172 ... 47
Southern Maryland
Calvert .. .. .. .. ... 15 .. . 15 .. ... 9,393 .. . 43 .. .. 12,257 ... 57
Charles .. .. .. .. ... 28 .. . 28 .. .. 13,882 .. . 45 .. .. 17,109 ... 55
St. Mary's .. .. .. ... 20 .. . 20 .. ... 9,556 .. . 46 .. .. 11,321 ... 54
Reg Totals .. .. .. ... 63 .. . 63 .. .. 32,831 .. . 45 .. .. 40,687 ... 55
Washington Suburbs
Montgomery .. .. .. .. 227 ... 227 .. . 165,760 .. . 62 .. .. 99,512 ... 38
Prince George's .. ... 199 ... 199 .. . 144,385 .. . 74 .. .. 49,581 ... 26
Reg Totals .. .. .. .. 426 ... 426 .. . 310,145 .. . 68 .. . 149,093 ... 32
Totals .. .. .. . .. 1,662 . 1,662 .. . 826,609 .. . 56 .. . 662,554 ... 44
TP = total precincts; PR = precincts reporting
Pub Date: 11/04/98