Comptroller William Donald Schaefer dismisses rumors of ill health as “a dirty lie,” and also denies that his re-election campaign hasn?t really gotten under way.
“Of course” it has started, Schaefer said in an Examiner interview published Tuesday. “I?m running like wild.”
Wild or not, a caller to the state Democratic Party headquarters was told Schaefer “doesn?t haven?t a campaign number yet,” and the phone number his staff provided wasn?t working Tuesday.
Bob Douglas, a longtime Schaefer adviser, said the campaign was off to a typically slow start, but “it?s not shaky.”
Keith Haller of Potomac Inc., a Bethesda pollster, said Schaefer “is very vulnerable in 2006 in a Democratic primary. His vulnerability is largely due to his own actions.” There?s been a decline in his public standing, he said.
Schaefer will face Montgomery County Del. Peter Franchot and Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens in the primary. But Douglas noted that Schaefer has had “several strong challengers” during his career. “It?s not been a cake walk every year,” Douglas said.
“Schaefer has always been more popular among Republicans than among ? the mainstay of the Democratic base,” Haller said, such as liberal Democrats, unions, minorities and women, who think he?s “veered away” from the party.
“There?s an anti-Schaefer vote,” observed Senate President Thomas Mike Miller. “There?s an increased sense of persons looking for another candidate,” especially since Schaefer has sided with Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich on the Board of Public Works against the Democratic state treasurer and the Democratic majority of the legislature.
“Having said all that, I think he remains the favorite,” Miller said, and is “comfortably ahead.”
In terms of campaign organization, “people are distorted in their view,” Douglas said, because Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley began his campaign for governor so early, Schaefer?s race “didn?t get going till the summer,” he said.
So far Schaefer?s campaign has raised $500,000, which is what Franchot also said he has raised.
