Townsend makes it official at rally

She formally announces bid for governor before 1,000 at State House

By David Nitkin
Sun Staff

May 6, 2002

Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend began her bid for governor yesterday with an afternoon rally in Annapolis that was designed to present a unified Democratic front and a sheen of
imperviousness around her quest to become Maryland's first female chief executive.

A crowd of more than 1,000 gathered in the shadow of the State House to hear Townsend announce her candidacy - a foregone conclusion for years - and took delight in the breadth and
diversity of the turnout.

"Today, I ask you to join me on a mission of rededication and renewal for the great state of Maryland," Townsend told them.

"Today, I ask for your vote, your voice and your help. Today, I ask that you believe in what we can do together and a stronger, more prosperous and more caring Maryland that we can
build together. Today, I ask that you help me lead this Maryland into the grace of a more perfect tomorrow."

Representatives from every corner of the state gathered under vertical banners bearing their county's name - the kind usually seen on the floor of national nominating conventions.
Others waved placards declaring that groups from steel workers to Latinos were united for Townsend.

"We feel very welcome as part of the campaign," said Jim Williams, 66, one of about two dozen members of Gay and Lesbian Friends of Kathleen who attended the campaign launch.

"She has been very much in tune with civil rights for minorities," said Eric Nee, a Montgomery County prosecutor standing under a sign that read "Chinese-Americans for Kathleen."

Townsend was joined by her mother, Ethel Kennedy; Thurgood Marshall Jr., son of the former Supreme Court justice whose statue towers over the brick courtyard that was the site of
the event; Gov. Parris N. Glendening; and two of the state's three living former governors.

"I was sitting there thinking, 'Who else could pull off a kickoff like this?'" said Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who flirted with the thought of challenging Townsend
a year ago but chose to run for re-election instead. "It was the best I've ever seen."

Townsend and her supporters have made no secret of their strategy to secure the Democratic nomination by dissuading rivals from entering the race, either through forming alliances
with them or deterring them by raising unmatchable amounts of money. The political elite among yesterday's crowd showed that she has largely succeeded, with one notable exception:
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, who is considering a primary challenge, stayed away.

The lieutenant governor becomes the first credible Democrat to enter the race. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of Timonium is expected to secure the GOP nomination over perennial candidate
Ross Z. Pierpont. Libertarian Spear Lancaster is also seeking the office.

By choosing to begin her campaign from the State House, Townsend, 50, sought to demonstrate that she will run on the record of the two-term Glendening administration and her work in
crime prevention, economic development and other areas, supporters said. The backdrop was a brick-fronted rebuke to critics who say Townsend is ill-prepared to ascend to Maryland's
top political job because she has never cast a legislative vote or won election on her own.

"I believe my wife, Kathleen, is a natural at the art of leadership," said her husband, David Townsend, a professor at St. John's College in Annapolis, in introductory remarks. "Most
strikingly, Kathleen has a great and good heart, a heart that connects to all people, privileged and successful as well as struggling and troubled. ... It is because Kathleen loves what she
is doing that people recognize in her a happy warrior."

The lieutenant governor, in her 27-minute address, said she would build on the accomplishments of the Glendening administration but would offer a different focus on solving
transportation problems and determining what gets taught in the state's classrooms.

The General Assembly's recent approval of a landmark education funding plan designed to pump $1.3 billion in new money for public schools over the next five years may have robbed
Townsend's education platform of some momentum. She pledged yesterday "we will keep that commitment" and also said she would push for character education and community service
to be a more important component of public education.

She promised to back legislation creating a family leave benefit so parents can be involved in their children's schools. She said that rather than an increase in a minimum wage, "my fight
is for jobs that earn a family-supporting wage."

Townsend mentioned her HotSpot crime-fighting program, which unites police, probation officers, social workers and residents in areas where crime is high.

"I want to bring that same spirit of engagement to other issues, to other challenges that we face here in the state of Maryland because I believe when we work together, nothing is
impossible," she said. "So let's talk about traffic. We Marylanders are spending too much time in traffic.

"I pledge to do better. This means more transit, more opportunities to work at home, and, yes, more roads," Townsend said, highlighting one of her major policy breaks with Glendening.

Townsend and Ehrlich support construction of the Intercounty Connector, a Washington-area highway that proponents say would relieve congestion on the Capital Beltway. Critics say
the road would destroy environmentally sensitive land and cost hundreds of millions of dollars without relieving gridlock.

While Townsend is prone to verbal gaffes and sometimes awkward speaking appearances, her performance yesterday got high marks from the partisan crowd. "That's probably the best
speech I've ever heard her give," said Baltimore County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, who, like Duncan, considered and rejected a challenge to Townsend. Ruppersberger is
running for Congress instead.

While questions linger about her experience and leadership ability, some national political observers have declared Townsend perhaps the leading female candidate in a gubernatorial
race this year. Her photograph appeared on the cover of Time magazine, and would-be challengers often lament the strength of her family name and all that it evokes.

She wasn't shy about displaying that strength yesterday. "I just wish that my father-in-law, Kathleen's dad, Robert Kennedy, could be here, too," David Townsend said. "I know that
Kathleen carries her father's love in her heart every day."

After listening to the speech, Ethel Kennedy declared her eldest daughter a worthy heir to the family tradition of public service: "I'm thrilled beyond belief. I thought all her dad's genes
came through."

Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun