6th District

Neighborhood City Council campaigns typically include brochures, door knocking, handshaking and mailings, but not billboards -- until now. The 6th District is one of the more hotly contested council races because the incumbent, Stephanie Rawlings Blake, is eight months' pregnant and hasn't been able to aggressively campaign. As a result, a host of challengers feel they have a chance to unseat the two-term council member in the primary Tuesday. Rawlings Blake hasn't knocked on many doors in her community and has instead purchased six billboards to get her message out. If the stakes seem higher, they are. The switch to single-member districts from a format that awarded the top three vote-getters council seats is forcing the new, more drastic, campaign tool, Rawlings Blake said.

Nobody asked me, but I'm betting - and hoping - that 85-year-old Roscoe Bartlett, Buckeystown's most durable Republican, will seek re-election in the reconfigured 6th Congressional District. There's been a lot of buzz about this lately, with political gossips saying Mr. Bartlett is doomed, and with numerous Republicans and Democrats lining up to run in the 2012 primaries. A political blogger reported that Mr. Bartlett's chief of staff, Bud Otis, has been exploring a run. Mr. Bartlett apparently hasn't been raising much money for a re-election bid, either.

Sixth District Republican candidate Joseph Brown Jr., considered his party's best bet to break a three-decade Democratic lock on City Hall, has raised twice as much money as the three candidates at the top of the GOP ticket, campaign finance reports show.As of Oct. 22, Mr. Brown had raised $7,142 and had $2,455 on hand for the weeks before the Nov. 7 general election.By contrast, Victor Clark Jr., the Republican candidate for mayor, raised only $1,000, half of it from his own pocket. Republican City Council president candidate Anthony D. Cobb collected $2,530, and GOP comptroller candidate Christopher McShane raised less than $300.

At 73, U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett has a snappy reply to questions about how long he'd like to remain a member of Congress. "I'm young enough to be Strom Thurmond's son," he said, referring to the 96-year old U.S. senator from South Carolina. Bartlett, a conservative Republican known for his contentious stands -- such as his bill to ban sales of girlie magazines on military bases -- is looking for a fifth term representing Western Maryland's six-county 6th District, and he isn't saying when he'll stop running.

WASHINGTON -- Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett has more than twice the campaign funds of the leading Democratic contender in the 6th District, according to reports candidates filed recently with the Federal Elections Commission.The documents showed that of $143,481 Mr. Bartlett raised last year, he had $74,226 in the bank on Dec. 31. The primary election is March 5.About 62 percent of Mr. Bartlett's campaign funds -- or $89,400 -- came from individuals last year. About $46,745 came from special interests or political action committees.

AFTER EIGHT YEARS of achieving virtually nothing for the people of the 6th Congressional District, incumbent Roscoe G. Bartlett deserves a swift retirement by the voters. Western Maryland is worthy of more than dime-store displays of patriotism and constitutional homilies from the 74-year-old former college professor and millionaire Frederick landowner. His conservative cant and reactionary rhetoric may strike a responsive chord in many constituents of his six-county district. But that is not effective, active political representation.

Roscoe Bartlett says broad experience, new ideas and the ability to persuade others should earn him the 6th District seat in the House ofRepresentatives.Bartlett -- who filed Aug. 30 and formally announced his campaign on Wednesday -- is retired from a dual career as a science teacher at Frederick Community College and president of a Frederick solar home building firm, Roscoe Bartlett and Associates Inc.After earning a doctor of physiology degree at the University of Maryland at College Park, Bartlett engaged in research and taught science and medical classes there, at Loma Linda University in Riverside, Calif.

Roscoe G. Bartlett has run this race before. He lost, but a lot can change in 10 years.Bartlett, a Republican from Frederick, is seeking the 6th District congressional seat held for the last 13 years byDemocrat Beverly B. Byron. In 1982, he won the Republican primary with 52 percent of the vote. He lost the general election to Byron, whoreceived 74 percent of the vote.But attitudes have changed, making this a good time to try again,he said."The political climate has changed. Now there is a meaningful anti-incumbent mood out there," he said.

FRESHMAN Del. Kenneth C. Holt has an uphill fight to unseat three-term Democratic Sen. Michael J. Collins. But voters should rally behind Mr. Holt.The 47-year-old stockbroker offers more vigorous and thoughtful leadership for the 6th District, which stretches from the bay-area communities of Essex and Middle River to rural Baldwin and Kingsville and includes a sliver of southwest Harford County.As a former teacher, Mr. Collins has shown much interest in education and the environment. This is commendable.

Area Democrats have organized a reception for Don DeArmon, candidate for Congress in the 6th District. Kenneth Holniker has offered his Eldersburg home for the gathering from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow at 5220 Equestrian Drive. Tickets are $50. Reservations: 410-876-9020.