Former MD Gov. Rob't Ehrlich pushes the sleaze envelope, and our pal Milt Shook offers his take on the 2010 elections

This "unlisted" YouTube video, "Andy Barth reports on Bob Ehrlich's devotion to his family," can be accessed only by people who are given the link by the maker. But since the maker, ehrlichformaryland, is the Ehrlich Republican gubernatorial campaign, it's a good bet that they're going to be getting the link for this and their other campaign videos out there. The twist is that interviewer Andy Barth is known to Baltimore-area viewers for more than three decades' worth of local TV reporting -- producing segments that looked, gosh, pretty much like this!

"Every campaign, every candidate, especially in today's digital age, looks for ways to communicate directly with voters and get around the media filter. I don't see anything wrong with that. But I've never seen this exact situation."

-- Democratic media strategist Mo Elleithee, about the Barth-Ehrlich YouTube spots, as quoted by the Washington Post's John Wagner

by Ken

Here's a story I've been better-dealing for a few weeks now, but I did want to take note of. It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of election sleaze, but it's yet another tribute to the capacity of American pols to push the sleaze envelope wherever there's an opportunity -- and it's a chance to touch base with a longtime pal, and one of the blogosphere's great firebrands.

Have you been keeping up on the thrill-a-minute Maryland governor's race? What, you don't even know who's running?

Okay, I was kind of vague about it myself until I read the above-noted Washington Post piece in late June, and discovered that Maryland voters are getting a rematch of the 2006 race, only with the roles reversed. This year Democratic Gov. Marvin O'Malley -- who's not exactly the favorite Dem of anybody I know, or anywhere near the top of that list -- is the incumbent seeking reelection against the man he unseated four years ago, Republican Robert Ehrlich. These days Ehrlich is an anachronism of sorts among Republicans, a man of such modest conservative credentials, you'd expect him to be a prime target of Teabagging wrath, being as he is of what we might call the Norm Coleman wing of the party -- opportunistic candidates of moderate-to-liberal background who saw a better electoral opening among the R's and accordingly made the connection based on the principle that matters most to them: What's in it for me?

We should note that the Ehrlich campaign hasn't tried to put these "spots" on TV, where Andy Barth's newsman recognition might really stink up the smell test. Of course what the campaign is trying to do is exactly to exploit the bypass-the-media electricity of online video virality. This seems to me a pretty poor message for that medium, but that doesn't diminish the sleaze component of trying to cash in on whatever recognition and trust Andy Barth built up in those decades of screen presence. You'd think that, even now that he's jumped over to the political side, he might have a bit more regard for whatever journalistic cred he once built up, but all this proves is that when it comes to politics, all America is a giant whorehouse.

I had another reason for tuning in, however feebly, to the O'Malley-Ehrlich rematch. Ehrlich is a bête noire of our longtime online political pal Milt Shook, who these days is sounding the horn of enlightened liberalism in a blog called Please...Cut the Crap! As it happens, Milt has known "Bobby" Ehrlich, well, maybe not quite back to the cradle, but a long ways back, and has a fondness for his old playmate that recalls the affection of Captain Ahab for that darned whale Moby-Dick, except without the respect.

So naturally I wanted to get Milt's take on the O'Malley-Ehrlich nail-biter, and asked him for his thoughts, knowing how tight he and his old chum Bobby are. "So tight," he shot back in late June, "that I’m considering working on his opponent's campaign?"

This is going to be an entertaining race, because he and O’Malley really can’t stand each other. Ehrlich and his wife (a former paralegal in his law office when he was still practicing) have a radio show in Baltimore, and he’s thus far refused to give up the show until he officially files his candidacy papers. So last week, O’Malley ran an anti-Ehrlich ad right in the middle of the program, and the Democratic Party apparently had people call his radio show and challenge him. Here’s some coverage of it at TPM.

Now we get down to the insiderish dope:

Bobby is actually quite the little prick, and he really can’t stand dissension. He has no tolerance for anyone who disagrees with him, which is probably why he gets on my nerves so much these days.

By the way, there isn’t a snowball’s chance that Ehrlich can win. Even in good times, the GOP has a hard time in Maryland; there’s no way they’re going to go with a retread. It’s funny, though; he’s actually trying to position himself as an outsider. Yeah… that sounds like a winner, huh?

Finally, Milt offered a perhaps surprising perspective on the elections:

Of course, the Republicans nationwide are in a hole. I don’t see them gaining any net seats to speak of. If they do, it’ll be about five in the House and 1-2 in the Senate. A lot of people are touting the “conventional wisdom,” but there’s a major flaw in their theory that the GOP should win seats this time… WHO is supposed to win them? They have an empty bench…

I've learned a huge amount about politics from Milt over the years -- not least to take seriously his often unconventional, no-bullshit take on events.

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