Princeton might not have beaten Harvard this year on the football field, but a Princeton alumnus hopes today to vanquish a Harvard graduate in the race for Maryland governor. If he wins his race, and avenges our defeat on the football field, it will be a fitting outcome – because U.S. Rep. Bob Ehrlich '79 captained the team while a student here.
Ehrlich is the Republican candidate for governor of Maryland, and appears to have a good chance of defeating his Democratic opponent, Harvard graduate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Townsend, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, was initially expected to coast to victory in Maryland's left-leaning political climate. But the most recent polls show Ehrlich with a razor-thin lead in the race. Observers in Maryland say that Ehrlich's personal charisma has made the race competitive, allowing him to charm voters across the state and position himself as the kind of affable, moderate Republican for whom Democrats can comfortably vote.
Bob Ehrlich Sr., the candidate's father, shed light on the race from his unique perspective yesterday during a phone call from Ehrlich campaign headquarters, where he is know simply as "Senior."
"We're very close. He's an only child," Ehrlich senior said yesterday. "He has said 10,000 times, the greatest four years of my life were the four years I spent at Princeton."
Ehrlich's personal magnetism was an asset even in his college days, as he forged strong bonds with fellow athletes, his father said.
"Bobby was captain of the football team . . . These guys have stayed so loyal to him," Ehrlich said. "They'll fly in tonight. They're very loyal. They fly in every time. They campaign."
His son's personal ties from Princeton had an unexpected benefit, Ehrlich Sr. explained.
"The captain of the football team automatically [leads the crew at the] the 25th Reunion," Ehrlich Sr. said.
In 1979, when Ehrlich was captain of the team and heading the crew at reunions, the reunion class's leading member was a Chicago businessman. "He flew in a couple of times to Princeton say what he wanted done. They got be very close friends," Ehrlich Sr. explained.
"Their friendship lapsed, and then when Bob came to Congress he got a call from the guy saying, 'I have a lot of connections in Washington, let me take you out to dinner and help you any way I can,'" Ehrlich Sr. explained. "Whenever the businessman came back to Washington, he would take Bob to dinner."
"And do you know who that man was? Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense!"
Rumsfeld met the younger Ehrlich for about 45 minutes last week, his father said. "Don said, 'Ehrlich, you better win this race.' "
And how does Senior himself feel about the candidate's chances? "We are cautiously optimistic, but we really feel good about about it," he says.
A tiger in the making
Ehrlich grew up in modest circumstances in Arbutus, Md., where his father sold cars for a living. He chanced into a scholarship at Baltimore's elite Gilman prep school for boys, where he played football.
Ehrlich's headmaster, Redmond Finney, and parents were eager for him to attend Princeton, where Finney had been a sports legend and an athletic field is named for the Finney family.
Ehrlich's father mailed his college applications, then realized he'd misaddressed the one for Princeton, sending it to the wrong school. He panicked. "When I called [the Princeton admissions office] to tell them what had happened," Ehrlich Sr. told The Jeffersonian, a Baltimore County newspaper, in 1997, they said, " 'Don't worry, he's accepted.' Even without an application! What a lucky boy."
Ehrlich said he believes that his father is "seriously confused" about his admission to Princeton, which he attended on a scholarship based on financial need. But, he acknowledges, "I was a very marginal admission, like a lot of athletes at that time."
Ehrlich said he maintained a B-average at Princeton even though he spent hours on the football field, where he wore Redmond Finney's old number and served as co-captain his senior year.
While wealthier classmates enjoyed weekend ski jaunts, Ehrlich pushed a hoagie cart around campus to earn extra cash, worked construction and scalped tickets to sporting events, which was illegal. A teammate rounded up complimentary tickets to Princeton basketball and hockey games. Ehrlich hawked them, netting the pair as much as $1,500 a game. "I was the face guy," he said.
Ehrlich's scalping career ended with a police sting operation. A police officer told Ehrlich that he was under arrest, but a Princeton proctor rescued him. "The proctor took good care of me," Ehrlich said. "He was a big football fan. He got me out of there."
Ehrlich majored in politics, joined campus Young Republicans and wrote his thesis on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. A 1978 profile of Ehrlich in the Princeton-Brown game program said he planned to become a lawyer and enter Maryland politics.
A race to the wire
Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was right where he wanted to be two days before Election Day: at a rally with former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Rep. Constance A. Morella (R-Md.), two famously moderate Republicans cut from the mold that Ehrlich has cast himself in during his race for governor of Maryland.
Republicans haven't won a governor's race in Maryland in 36 years. And with the polls showing a virtual tie, they see Ehrlich as their best chance to win in a long time.
"The Republican Party smells victory," said Donald F. Norris, a political science professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. "Ehrlich is one of the few guys who can get away without passing their litmus test. They want the office badly enough. They're enthusiastic, and I think they're going to turn out in droves."
Recent polls suggest that few Republicans are straying from their party's nominee. A Washington Post poll released last week found that nine out of 10 Republicans planned to vote for Ehrlich compared with 73 percent of Democrats who planned to vote for their party's nominee, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Townsend has also faced internal party squabbling, with some Democratic lawmakers complaining about her choice of a running mate — retired Adm. Charles R. Larson, a former Republican — and others griping in public about her political strategy.
In Baltimore County, where polls show Ehrlich with a fat lead, many Democratic candidates have shied away from appearing with Townsend. In some precincts, Democrats left her name off a sample party ballot.
Last month, Ehrlich brought in President Bush to Baltimore for a fundraiser, and former Republican congressman Jack Kemp swooped in for a day.
The biggest draw, in terms of attendance, has been Giuliani, another Republican who won office by attracting support from Democrats and Independents. He appeared with Ehrlich over the weekend at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds for a rally that attracted about 1,000 supporters, many of them waving signs for Ehrlich.
(The Washington Post contributed to this report.)
Read More
GSG approves audit, delays budget approval after ‘insufferable’ meeting
Nikki HanThe final Graduate Student Government (GSG) meeting for the semester lasted more than an hour and a half when discussions over the proposed budget for the next year and a proposed Student Life Fee of $100 turned controversial.
The final Graduate Student Government (GSG) meeting for the semester lasted more than an hour and a half when discussions over the proposed budget for the next year and a proposed Student Life Fee of $100 turned controversial.
Effort to restore chapel’s pews slowly progresses
Ben GoldstonHead carpenter Jim Sullivan has been restoring the Chapel pews over the last year. The dry atmosphere of the Chapel has warped the wooden pews over the years.
Head carpenter Jim Sullivan has been restoring the Chapel pews over the last year. The dry atmosphere of the Chapel has warped the wooden pews over the years.
Metals, molecules, and medicine: chemical biology’s influence on health and sustainability
Aanya KaseraChemistry professor Chris Chang’s lab studies the chemical biology of the elements, specifically examining the roles that copper, iron, and zinc play in biology across all kingdoms of life.
Chemistry professor Chris Chang’s lab studies the chemical biology of the elements, specifically examining the roles that copper, iron, and zinc play in biology across all kingdoms of life.