A combative Gov. Robert Ehrlich, acting more like an underdog challenger than the incumbent, mixed it up with an almost equally aggressive Baltimore City Mayor Martin O?Malley in two television debates.
Both men challenged each other?s records Saturday on schools, crime, taxes and electricity rates, charged his opponent with misleading voters on these issues, and presented sharply contrasting approaches to issues and style.
O?Malley repeatedly interrupted the governor as the two sat side by side, and Ehrlich kept insisting “it?s my time” to talk.
Both camps declared victory in news releases headlined “2 for 2,” and even argued about which man was angrier.
Seeing the two together left little doubt that their differences were not only on policy but personal.
“I love competition,” Ehrlich told reporters after the public television encounter. “I think the mayor was angry tonight. I don?t know what he?s angry about.”
O?Malley insisted he wasn?t angry. “We have tried to conduct ourselves with dignity,” he said afterward. “I greatly disagree with the way Bob Ehrlich treats the City of Baltimore,” the mayor said, saying Ehrlich “belittles” the city?s children and police.
“He acts like Baltimore is a separate state,” O?Malley said, who implied Ehrlich uses code words as a subtle form of racism.
As he has for months, Ehrlich hammered O?Malley relentlessly on failing schools in the city and blocking state intervention by the legislature.
O?Malley touted the test scores that show progress by city schools, particularly in the elementary grades, but said, “I?ll be the first to admit that we have a long way to go.”
Asked to discuss their styles, O?Malley talked on WJZ about “leadership that is respectful of others regardless of difference of opinion,” talking about the need for compromise and consensus.
“I don?t know what that all means,” Ehrlich said, calling it a style of “whining and blaming,” while he described himself as “upfront and honest, sometimes to a fault.”
On electricity rates, O?Malley said the sharp increase in rates was due to a failure of Ehrlich?s appointees on the Public Service Commission, tied to the powerful utility company.
The governor said it was due to the Maryland Legislature?s failed deregulation that imposed rate caps for years.
This week, The Examiner will carry a five-part series on the major issues that came up in the debates.
Watch the debate
» The debate taped Saturday airs at 7 tonight on WJZ TV.
» At the same time, Maryland Public Television will rebroadcast the debate.
