Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s campaign sought to tag Republican challenger Bob Ehrlich with the Tea Party label on Tuesday in what the governor’s campaign characterized as a retaliatory strike against negative GOP ads.
O’Malley’s campaign linked Ehrlich to the Tea Party hours after the national Republican Governor’s Association aired anti-O’Malley TV ads across the state.
“When they attack, we must hit back twice as hard,” O’Malley campaign manager Tom Russell wrote to supporters in an e-mail soliciting $200,000 in donations over the next eight days. “They have a huge cash advantage and they’re going to use it right here in Maryland. … Republican groups, like the RGA, Tea Party and Karl Rove’s 527, are outspending Democratic ones 10 to 1.”
Maryland GOP spokesman Ryan Mahoney said O’Malley’s campaign is trying to stoke Democrats’ fear of the growing Tea Party movement.
“They are trying to paint the whole movement as extreme,” he said. “For the most part, Tea Party groups are concerned with the same things Republicans are concerned about,” he added, citing big government and overspending as common priorities.
Political science professor Thomas Schaller said Ehrlich is too moderate to appeal to the Tea Party.”Ehrlich strikes me as the least Tea Party-inclined Republican candidate I can think of,” said Schaller, a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “He has spent his entire career positioning himself as a moderate.”
Until Tuesday, O’Malley’s campaign largely ignored the growing national wave of Tea Partiers. But last week’s primaries orphaned thousands of right-wing voters who rallied behind failed candidate Brian Murphy.
Now, after Russell’s hints at tainting Ehrlich’s campaign with Tea Party support, another O’Malley campaigner is trying to appeal to the newly orphaned voters.
“Bob Ehrlich ceded 25 percent of the Republican Party vote in Maryland [to Murphy last week]” said O’Malley campaign spokesman Rich Abbruzzese. “It’s clear that the Tea Party has not embraced Bob Ehrlich.”
Abbruzzese cited Tea Party priorities, and claimed O’Malley cut more spending and reduced the size of government more than his Republican opponent.
In the meantime, Ehrlich’s campaign is welcoming the Tea Party association.
“There are certainly Tea Party members who support us and we welcome their votes,” said Ehrlich spokesman Andy Barth. “If they are for fiscal responsibility, then we support them.”
