Bob Ehrlich

Robert Leroy Ehrlich Jr. (born November 25, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 60th governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007.

Ehrlich was the first Republican to serve as governor of Maryland since Spiro Agnew left office in 1969.

He was the sixth Republican governor in state history and the first since Spiro Agnew left office to take the Vice Presidency in 1969.

Ehrlich said "fiscal responsibility, education, health, and the environment, public safety, and commerce" were the "Five Pillars" of his administration.

He opposed sales and income tax increases and supported legalization of slot machines to raise revenue.

Under Ehrlich's tenure, Maryland stayed 0.5% or more below the national unemployment average.

Ehrlich graduated from Princeton with an A.B. in politics in 1979 after completing a 140-page long senior thesis titled "Alexander Solzenitsyn: The Man and His Politics."

He continued on to law school, graduating from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1982.

After law school, Ehrlich worked for Ober, Kaler, Grimes and Shriver, a Baltimore law firm, and became active in politics.

In November 1986, Ehrlich won a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing parts of Baltimore County from 1987 to 1995.

A Republican, Ehrlich represented Maryland's 10th legislative district in the House of Delegates from 1987 to 1995 and Maryland's 2nd Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003.

He married Kendel Sibiski in 1993.

They have two sons, Drew Robert Ehrlich and Joshua Taylor Ehrlich.

He is also a frequent guest on the Sports Junkies.

In 1993, 2nd district Representative Helen Delich Bentley announced she would be vacating her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ehrlich announced his candidacy for the open seat and won the election in November 1994.

During his term, he introduced legislation aimed at helping disabled people maintain employment and supported harsher gun violence penalties.

While in Congress, Ehrlich served on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.

He was also a member of the subcommittees on health, telecommunications and the Internet, and environment and hazardous materials; the Congressional Biotechnology Caucus, where he served as co-chairman; and the Congressional Steel Caucus.

While Glendening had been reelected by a substantial margin in 1998, the final years of his term were plagued by a personal marital crisis, and a large state budget deficit.

The rural areas of Maryland – largely Republican – had long criticized Glendening for what they perceived as zealous environmental regulations; in addition, they believed that he did not give sufficient attention to their needs for infrastructure improvements (bridges, highways, etc.).

In 1999, He voted to remove president Bill Clinton from office during Clinton's impeachment trial.

Ehrlich won all his elections in Congress by margins of at least 25%.

He announced he would be forgoing reelection in 2002 to run for governor.

He was succeeded by Dutch Ruppersberger.

In 2002, Democratic Governor Parris Glendening's second term was ending.

On March 15, 2002, Ehrlich announced his candidacy for the governorship.

He attacked Glendening's record, tying his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, to him.

Ehrlich promised, if elected, to increase school funding, balance the budget, and protect the Chesapeake Bay.

His running mate was Michael Steele, an African-American and the chair of the Maryland Republican Party.

During the election, Townsend was criticized for her choice of running mate; she picked retired Admiral Charles R. Larson, a novice politician who had switched parties only a few weeks before.

The Townsend campaign was also hurt by the unpopularity of Glendening, who had implemented a redistricting proposal that was overturned by Maryland's highest court.

Townsend's popularity continued to fall when it was reported that much of her campaign money was given by out-of-state donors; Ehrlich remained on the attack while the lieutenant governor's poll numbers declined.

Though Maryland traditionally votes Democratic and had not elected a Republican governor in almost 40 years, Ehrlich won the race (52% of the vote to Townsend's 47%).

He served one term before being defeated in his 2006 re-election bid by Democrat Martin O'Malley.

In 2010, Ehrlich sought an unsuccessful rematch against O'Malley.

Ehrlich then announced, via his website, that he would "return to private life."

In October 2011, he was named chair of Mitt Romney's Maryland campaign for the 2012 Republican nomination for President.

Ehrlich was born in the Southwest Baltimore suburb of Arbutus, Maryland, the son of Nancy (Bottorf), a legal secretary, and Robert Leroy Ehrlich, a commission car salesman.

After attending Gilman School, he studied at Princeton University, where he attended on a partial scholarship and was captain of the football team and a member of the Cap and Gown Club.