By Len Lazarick
Len@MarylandReporter.com
In the next few weeks, we expect to learn the answer to the question many began asking Bob Ehrlich nearly two years ago: Is he going to run for governor again?
It is clear that the Ehrlich “family” — friends, staff and especially his wife Kendel — is behind a rematch between him and Gov. Martin O’Malley. That was one of the factors he mentioned to me at a dinner in May 2008. But the key questions, he said then, were “Can I win and can I fix it?”
Ehrlich himself is the one holding back on the decision, calculating his chances against an incumbent Democratic governor in a heavily Democratic state. He’s made no secret that he’ll run if he thinks he can win.
But can he “fix” what he sees as the fiscal mess in Annapolis and the left-ward drift of the state? Can he and his backers be more than just the party of “no” and supply a “positive vision for Maryland,” as he advised other Republicans in October?
The next two years facing the governor elected in November will be even more daunting than what both O’Malley and Ehrlich faced in their first terms. Elected state leaders have pushed the most expensive long-term problems until after the election.
Next January, the revenue picture continues to look bleak, and all the easy budget cuts have been long done. The fiscal 2011 budget depends on a series one-time transfers of funds that may not be available again. As one legislative wag said of O’Malley, “He’s broken all the piggy banks.”
