In what talk show host Ron Smith called an “exit interview” and a “farewell” visit, the biggest losers in last month?s election ? Gov. Robert Ehrlich and Lt. Gov. Michael Steele ? spent two hours on WBAL radio Tuesday in a rare post-election interview and their first joint interview since their loss.
Ehrlich said he had “no regrets” about his re-election bid, but his future in politics is “unknowable.”
“There?s not a whole lot that I would do differently,” he said, and he said he actually ran a better campaign than in 2002, when he defeated Democratic Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
“It?s obvious that people prefer single-party government,” Ehrlich said. “Right now, one wing of the Democratic party is completely dominant. Is that the long-term trend or not?”
“The trend lines here are pretty difficult” for a quick comeback by Maryland Republicans, the governor said. A lot will depend on the performance of the new Democratic governor and legislature.
“This was not a Maryland event,” said Steele, and it reflected frustration over Iraq and policies of the Bush administration and Congress, and not necessarily about the kind of job he and Ehrlich had done or would do.
Their Democratic opponents repeatedly tied them to Bush, and Steele said when he found a 70-year-old Republican who was not voting for the party, “you?ve got a problem.” Both men agreed that even Townsend could have beaten them in the political environment this year. But “we?ll hang tough,” Steele said. “This is not the time to put the tent in the box.”
Ehrlich thanked listeners for the thousands of cards, letters and e-mails. “We?re dealing with disappointed people every day,” Ehrlich said. “It is an awful and wonderful part of this process.”
The hardest messages to handle were voters who said they liked what Ehrlich did as governor, but still voted against him.
