Maryland Gov. O'Malley and Ex-Gov. Ehrlich Spar in First TV Debate

BALTIMORE, Md. -- In the first -- and rather testy -- televised debate of their grudge-match campaign, Maryland's Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., whom he beat in 2006, pummeled each about the economy, jobs, education, crime, the environment, immigration and negative campaign ads.

The hour-long debate was taped Monday morning at the WJZ-TV studio in Baltimore to air at 7 p.m. Neither politician made news or committed a major blunder as the candidates went after each other using standard stump speech language.

O'Malley accused Ehrlich of living in an economic "fantasy world that he never raised taxes -- even though he raised fees, even though he raised property taxes, even though he raised college tuition by 40 percent . . . In much easier times, he chose to cut education, cut school construction, cut college education and thereby making college tuition much more expensive."

Ehrlich had his own economic put-down, saying, "I know you do this populist thing -- I know you talk about working families and all that, but working families have been hammered over the past four years: sales taxes increased, community colleges getting hurt, state employees getting furloughed, all regressive."

He also accused O'Malley of using "class warfare" to tax the very wealthy and of creating a "really hostile" business climate through actions of state regulatory agencies. Some of those rules concerned the environment, prompting O'Malley to retort: "I will make no apologies for standing up to environmental polluters."

Ehrlich, a former state legislator and congressman, branded a Baltimore funding fight over public schools with abysmal pass rates "a disgraceful episode" of politicians "protecting a monopoly as opposed to kids." O'Malley, who was the city's mayor at the time, said he was tired of hearing only about failing schools, and ripped what he called "very coded language about kids that aren't succeeding . . . I'm tired of people putting down the achievements of poor children and children of color."

Debate moderator Denise Koch posed questions from viewers, including one from a furloughed teacher.

O'Malley said he chose furloughs so "all of us weather this together," rather than resorting to massive layoffs to ease budget deficits. Ehrlich said such furloughs "send a clear message" to workers: "Thanks for what you do, but you are taking a hit.

Another viewer fretted about negative campaign ads. Ehrlich said politicians often use them because "the simple answer is, negatives work."

O'Malley hit the airwaves in the summer, touting his own record but also taking shots at his rival's one term in Annapolis and his past four years as a lawyer representing energy firms and other corporations.

The former governor said that by "going so negative so early," O'Malley may actually have helped him with a disaffected electorate. Although registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a two-to-one margin and about a third of the electorate is independent, Ehrlich started out 10 points behind, but the two then ran neck and neck for months.

In recent weeks, two polls have given O'Malley a solid lead. An Oct. 5 Rasmussen Report put the incumbent eight points head -- 49 to 41 points, with 8 percent of voters undecided and 1 percent favoring another candidate. A week earlier, the Washington Post gave O'Malley an 11-point lead, at 52 to 41 percent. Ehrlich has begun running ads in the voter-rich Washington suburbs.

Political observers had said Ehrlich would have to turn in a stellar performance, or O'Malley would have to make a major gaffe, for the debate to have real impact. Neither event seemed to have occurred during their first mash-up, in which the folksier Ehrlich -- who honed his style on a weekly Baltimore radio show after leaving office -- occasionally called O'Malley "guv." When O'Malley would try to cut in to rebut an Ehrlich statement, the challenger held firm, saying, "This is my time."

Ehrlich did not address the media scrum after the event, leaving that to campaign spokesman Andy Barth, who said his boss was "prepared to let the debate speak for itself. He's very pleased with how it went." But the debate almost didn't go at all, when three Democratic politicians, including Sen. Barbara Mikulski, joined the 50 or 60 spectators in the studio audience.

Barth said the original deal was there would be "family and friends" present, but not pols, and that Ehrlich could have walked out before the debate began. In the end, he chose to stay, of course. But Ehrlich had to enter the building by a back door because there were dozens of sign-waving O'Malley fans at the main entrance, and he clearly did not fancy walking through a sea of opposition placards.

O'Malley campaign spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said his side's guest list was sent to the station last week, and that he was surprised by the Ehrlich campaign's Monday morning angst.

O'Malley called the debate "a lively exchange of ideas."

The duo will go at it again Thursday in Washington.