Defeated politicians usually slip quietly into obscurity. But Republicans Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, and Bob Ehrlich, the ex-governor of Maryland, won’t be among them. Nor have they become lobbyists or signed up for a work-free perch at some Washington institution. And they aren’t going into political hibernation in expectation of emerging later to run for office. They have decided to stay in politics and fight, almost as if they’d won last November.
This is a new model for politicians. Some join law firms or become lobbyists and are rarely heard from again. These two are setting up shop now–Santorum in Washington, Ehrlich in Annapolis–to pursue the political causes that marked their time in office. They aim to be seen (on TV), heard (radio and speeches), and read (when they finish books).
Santorum, 48, has adopted a relatively new cause: the global threat of Islamic extremism. He is more closely identified with conservative social issues, especially the crusade to curb or ban abortion. In fact, his defeat deprives the Senate of its most skillful and knowledgeable foe of abortion. It was Santorum who guided the bill banning partial-birth abortion through the Senate in 2003, a measure now before the Supreme Court.
In the waning weeks of his reelection campaign, Santorum emphasized a different issue. He delivered several speeches warning about what he called, in a deliberate echo of Churchill, “the gathering storm.” War, he said, “is at our doorstep, and it is fueled, figuratively and literally, by Islamic fascism, nurtured and bred in Iran.” The speeches attracted attention and drew praise from conservatives, but had little impact on the race. The issue “probably hurt me more than it helped,” Santorum told me. He lost 59 to 41 percent.
Now, rather than return to Pennsylvania, Santorum has joined the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Washington think tank that specializes in religious and moral issues. He brought several of his Senate staffers with him. Santorum may also affiliate with a law firm (he has six children to provide for), but his chief focus is his EPPC effort to create awareness of “America’s enemies,” which include not only Islamists but also dictators like Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Kim Jong Il of North Korea. The threat, he says, “is not obvious to the American people right now.”
Ehrlich, 49, who left office last week, may also connect with a law firm. But his political activity is likely to overshadow any legal work. Instead of returning to the Baltimore suburbs, he has bought a house in Annapolis, the Maryland capital, and intends to keep some of his top aides with him. His plans include: giving speeches to nonpartisan and Republican groups, writing a book of political advice, doing radio and TV commentary, helping a Republican presidential candidate (probably Rudy Giuliani, the ex-New York mayor), and trying to strengthen the pathetically weak Republican party of Maryland.
After winning elections in a strongly Democratic state–for the legislature, Congress, and governor’s office–Ehrlich wants to popularize his strategy for winning as a Republican in states normally unreceptive to Republican candidates. It consists, in part, of being moderate on social issues and libertarian on economic matters. He calls this “right of center but reasonable.”
Ehrlich was a successful and popular governor. He won authorization of a controversial freeway through Washington’s northern suburbs, between I-95 and I-270; gained approval for charter schools; turned a state deficit into a surplus; and made Maryland a two-party state–for four years anyway. “We established a marketplace of competing ideas and open debate,” he wrote in the Baltimore Sun on January 14. “My greatest wish is that this debate continues despite the return to single-party rule.”
To his surprise, Ehrlich was endorsed for reelection by the Washington Post. It was little help. He lost despite an approval rating in the 50s. Ehrlich concluded that there was no way in a Democratic year for him to win in a solidly Democratic state. He figures he’d even have lost to Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, whom he defeated in 2002.
In recent years, Ehrlich and his lieutenant governor, Michael Steele, were the only Republicans to win statewide office in Maryland. The party lacks popular leaders and its state legislators are a tiny minority. For that reason alone, Ehrlich says, “we have a duty to the party” to stay and fight. “Our base is small.”
Both Ehrlich and Santorum blame President Bush for Republican losses last year. What happened? “George Bush happened,” Ehrlich says. “We just thought we could survive.” He came close, losing 53 to 46 percent. Santorum never had a chance. He was never ahead in polls and rarely even close to Democrat Bob Casey Jr. He says Bush gave effective speeches on national security early last fall that buttressed his campaign, but “then he stopped. He stopped engaging the issue and went into political mode. At that point, [my campaign] was a lost cause.”
Santorum’s future is likely to be as a nonelected spokesman for conservative causes. He has no plans to return to Pennsylvania and run for public office again.
Ehrlich’s future should be different. He is tough and ambitious and less ideological than Santorum. As a Republican governor facing lopsided Democratic majorities in the legislature, he and his aides “awakened every morning knowing it was going to be full contact every day, all day,” he says. He relished the fight and recalls his victories fondly, notably the refusal to allow a general tax increase. “That drove Democrats crazy,” he says. He’s likely to run again or, if Giuliani is elected president, serve in his administration.
For now, Ehrlich and Santorum are pursuing a new path and it’s not the most lucrative or least rigorous one. They refuse to take a hiatus from politics. As a result, we will be hearing from them, probably loudly and no doubt clearly.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
