2nd District

After weeks of polite exchanges, the congressional race between Helen Delich Bentley and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger has taken a sharp negative turn as newly critical advertisements from both sides hit the airwaves, leading to complaints from each side that the other isn't playing fair. Bentley responded sharply yesterday to an advertisement paid for by the Maryland Democratic Party claiming that 14 years ago, her "solution to high drug costs was to raise taxes on seniors and to deduct money from their Social Security checks, all to pay for inadequate coverage few would even use."

A week after declaring his run for Congress, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger was back doing what he has loved most as county executive. The kind of politician who has never seen a ribbon-cutting he didn't like, Ruppersberger was in Woodlawn for the kickoff of a $700,000 watershed rehabilitation program where he was able to give a speech, joke with people and, best of all, put on a hard hat. The construction workers set up a Bobcat, a sort of mini-bulldozer, for...

Although their race is listed as one of a handful of tossups in the increasingly nasty battle for control of Congress, Helen Delich Bentley and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger were strikingly civil to each other yesterday in a debate in which they agreed about almost everything. The candidates for Maryland's 2nd Congressional District seat met for the eighth time in the campaign in a debate taped for Maryland Public Television and agreed almost entirely on a wide range of issues, including war on Iraq, the balance of civil liberties and the fight against terrorism, the response to corporate malfeasance, minimum wage increases and the need for more drug treatment programs.

When C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger stopped by Oak Crest Village on Tuesday, looking for votes in the huge Parkville retirement community, Maurice Preston corralled the congressional candidate to talk about two things: golf and prescription drugs. Preston's wife, Dorothy, had a stroke 11 months ago. The 83-year-old is recovering -- she gets around with a walker -- but her prescription drug costs continue to rise, even with their AARP discount program. "Most seniors talk about the same damn thing, and nothing is being done about it," said Maurice Preston, 83. "There are a lot of people here with a lot of money, but prescription drugs just keep going up."

The two candidates for the 2nd Congressional District seat, Republican Helen Delich Bentley and Democrat C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, displayed nearly as many similarities as differences in their approaches to Social Security, prescription drug benefits and other senior citizens' issues at an AARP Maryland forum yesterday. Both candidates said they oppose privatizing Social Security or setting up individual accounts that would take money away from the Social Security trust fund. Both said the government needs to find ways to make health insurance more affordable.

Anne Arundel County Councilman Daniel E. Klosterman Jr., a certified public accountant from Millersville who represents the 2nd District, entered the race for re-election with $38,000 in the bank and name recognition as past council chairman - a good start by any campaign manager's standard. By contrast, fellow Democrat and challenger in the Sept. 10 primary Paul T. Falkler is financing his own campaign and knocking on a lot of doors. So far, the Severn resident has spent about $3,000.

James G. Fitzgerald got only 826 votes - 21.5 percent of the vote - when he ran four years ago for the Democratic nomination for the District 2 seat on the Howard County Council. It seemed a pitiful showing then, but if the 48-year-old software engineer does just as well in the primary election this September, he could win the race in a redrawn district that covers most of east Columbia and parts of Elkridge and Jessup. That's because another low-turnout election is expected, and if the four Democrats running this year have to split the fewer than 4,000 votes cast in 1998, anyone could win the nomination.

Oz Bengur, the political newcomer running for Congress in the 2nd District, challenged Baltimore County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger yesterday to a series of five debates before the Democratic primary in September. Jim Cauley, Ruppersberger's campaign manager, said the executive would be happy to debate - but would do so only if the event was held by a neutral sponsor, such as the League of Women Voters, and if all Democratic candidates were allowed to participate. Three other Democrats are in the race: Kenneth T. Bosley, the party's nominee in the 2nd District in the last two elections; Brian H. Davis, a Baltimore City government worker who is new to politics; and James E. DeLoach Jr., a Sun delivery agent and eBay merchant who has run for the office twice before.

The race for the 8th Congressional District seat in Montgomery County is on pace to be one of the most expensive in the nation, with the incumbent and her two challengers having raised more than $1 million each, financial disclosure reports filed yesterday show. While candidates in Baltimore County's 2nd District haven't been able to match those figures, fund raising in that race - which got under way three months ago - has also gotten off to a healthy start, with County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger reporting more than $460,000 in donations, more than twice as much as the leading Republican, former U.S. Rep. Helen Delich Bentley.

Three more Democrats and one more Republican have entered the race for Congress in Maryland's 2nd District, joining three other candidates seeking to win the seat. Kenneth T. Bosley, 72, a Democrat from Sparks who lost to Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in 1998 and 2000, will seek the office again. A retired Air Force major, he plans to focus his campaign on property rights, ethics for accountants, attorneys and judges, and national security issues. Another frequent candidate, James E. DeLoach Jr., of Chase, has also entered the race.