Copyright 1993 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
February 26, 1993, Friday, Final Edition
SECTION: METRO; PAGE D1
LENGTH: 673 words
HEADLINE: Schmoke Casts Eye on Annapolis;
Baltimore Mayor May Run for Governor
SERIES: Occasional
BYLINE: Richard Tapscott, Washington Post Staff Writer
DATELINE: ANNAPOLIS, Feb. 25, 1993
BODY:
Kurt L. Schmoke, the cerebral, cautious politician who
succeeded the more flamboyant William Donald Schaefer as mayor of Baltimore,
said
today he is exploring the possibility of trying to follow
Schaefer into the Maryland governorship.
Schmoke, 43, disclosed his interest in the 1994 governor's
race after urging a General Assembly committee here to approve a $ 101
million
investment by state government in expanding the Baltimore
City Convention Center.
"I'm just responding to a number of people who have asked
me," Schmoke, a Democrat, said in an interview. "So we're going to spend
a couple
of months looking at the race." Voter surveys done a year
ago showed Schmoke with considerably higher name recognition statewide
than
others planning to enter the Democratic primary, including
Lt. Gov. Melvin A. Steinberg, Prince George's County Executive Parris N.
Glendening
and Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr.
"Schmoke would come into the race as the clear front-runner,
particularly in a large Democratic field," said Brad Coker, president of
Mason-Dixon
Political/Media Research Inc. "The question is whether
he could sustain that status."
Schmoke, a Baltimore native who became that city's first
black elected mayor in 1987, closely fits the young, policy wonk image
gaining some
currency in the Clinton administration. The mayor was
an early and ardent supporter of the new president's campaign.
He attended Yale University, was a Rhodes Scholar and received
a law degree from Harvard. After serving on the domestic policy staff in
the
Carter White House, Schmoke returned to Baltimore as an
assistant U.S. attorney and in 1982 was elected as the city's chief prosecutor.
Though known to have a distaste for confrontation, Schmoke
created a sensation soon after his first election as mayor by calling for
a full
debate on decriminalizing drugs. Since then, he has struggled
with universal urban problems of crime, low-achieving schools and a dwindling
tax
base, turning often to the state for more money.
Schmoke's comments today caught several prospective rivals
flat-footed, in part because the mayor earlier had expressed interest in
a U.S.
Senate seat, backing away when it became more certain
that the 1994 race probably would include Democratic incumbent Paul S.
Sarbanes.
Supporters of other Democratic gubernatorial contenders
sought to downplay Schmoke's announcement, saying it was prompted by criticism
of
Baltimore during the current General Assembly session.
But the mayor's aides said he became more interested in the governor's
race when no
"preeminent" candidate had emerged.
As the largely successful mayor of a city of more than
735,000 residents, Schmoke might expect support not only from fellow blacks,
but from
other liberal Democrats as well. Black turnout accounts
for about 25 percent to 30 percent of the vote in statewide Democratic
primaries, which
could help keep Schmoke competitive in locales such as
Prince George's, the majority-black county that constitutes Glendening's
political
base.
In campaign finance reports filed in November, Schmoke
had $ 132,700 in his account, far behind the $ 700,000 Glendening had in
reserve, but
sufficient seed money to do exploratory work.
Schmoke could run into trouble in Montgomery, the state's
most populous and prosperous county, where Baltimore is widely viewed as
a
continuing drain on the state and even the county.
Last year, Schmoke infuriated Montgomery lawmakers by saying
the city would join in a suit seeking a bigger portion of state education
aid. He
further antagonized the county in November by backing
a state aid cut that hit Montgomery harder than any other county.
"Right now, although a lot of people personally like him,
his name is mud around here," said Michael Gildea, Montgomery County Democratic
Party
chairman.
"Any candidate from Baltimore -- whether it's Schmoke,
Steinberg or Curran -- is going to have a tough time here, with the continuing
economic
plundering of Montgomery County that's going on."