In the bustling market house on the docks of Annapolis, Md., radio music wafted over the stacks of fruits and vegetables. "Please release me," the voice wailed. "Let me go. I don't love you any more." A woman at the bakery counter called to a friend in the fruit department: "Oh, they're playing the Governor's song."
Governor Marvin Mandel is the talk of his state—for all the wrong reasons. These days his mouth is clenched more tightly than ever around one of his collection of 400 pipes; he endures the humiliation of being balked by his wife of 32 years. The pair are living in separate homes—only it happens that Barbara ("Bootsie") Mandel, 53, is occupying the 54-room Governor's mansion in Annapolis while Marvin has taken refuge in a five-room bachelor pad two miles away. Mandel was once considered a shoo-in for re-election in 1974; if his marital standoff continues, he may face stiff competition from politicians who are living—however uneasily—with their wives.
The ruckus began with a simple announcement in July. Just as in a political matter, the Governor figured that the best way to solve his problem would be to make it public. He issued a press release at the State House: "I would like to announce that I am separated from Mrs. Mandel. My decision, and the separation, are final and irrevocable, and I will take immediate action to dissolve the marriage. I am in love with another woman, Mrs. Jeanne Dorsey, and I intend to marry her. There will be no further comment or discussion."
Well, not quite. It seems the Governor had not won the approval of Bootsie, who had staunchly resisted separation. "He should see a psychiatrist," she said in reply. "The pressure of the job must have gone to his head. I am astonished, amazed, unbelieving." She was also unmoving. She had been elected First Lady of Maryland, she insisted, and First Lady she would remain. As she told TIME's Arthur White: "I'm not getting a divorce. I'm trying to save our marriage. I've had a happy married life for a long time. I worked while he went to law school. We climbed the ladder together. We achieved the impossible dream [the governorship]."