7th District

SOUTH COUNTY is preoccupied with growth. This district includes Anne Arundel's most rural areas and the largest collection of active farmers. Watermen still operate out of towns with romantic names such as Shady Side, Rose Haven and Galesville. The district also includes Crofton, a bedroom suburb of both Washington and Baltimore that continues to expand.Democrats don't have a contested primary in the 7th Councilmanic District. The lone candidate is Timothy J. Shearer of Shady Side.Republicans have two candidates vying for the nomination: incumbent John J. Klocko III, seeking a second term, and Patricia O'Brien Boarman, a perennial candidate from Deale.

Del. Elijah E. Cummings, a West Baltimore legislator, picked up the first major organizational endorsement in the campaign for the 7th District congressional seat yesterday and locked up part of the important Eastside vote in the process.Mr. Cummings, speaker pro tem of the House of Delegates, won the endorsement of state Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden, who withdrew from the race and pledged the support of his Eastside Democratic Organization (EDO), as reported yesterday in late editions of The Sun.Mr.

In yesterday's editions, the number of absentee ballots returned to the Baltimore County election board for the 7th Congressional District race was incorrectly reported. The number of ballots returned was about 400.The Sun regrets the error.Baltimore city and county voters in the 7th Congressional District are expected to come out in record numbers today for the special election to pick a successor to former Rep. Kweisi Mfume.Those would be record low numbers, election officials fear."It's going to be a sorry election," said Doris J. Suter, Baltimore County election administrator.

The already record-breaking number of candidates for the 7th District congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Kweisi Mfume got even larger last night, after two more Democrats joined the free-for-all in the March 5 primary.The two Democrats jumped into the race before the state election board's 9 p.m. filing deadline in Annapolis.The latest candidates are Shelton J. Stewart Jr., 53, the former Baltimore sheriff who was stripped of his office after a 1988 obstruction of justice conviction; and Craig Glenn Ring, 42, a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. machinist from Catonsville.

Nearly two dozen candidates for Rep. Kweisi Mfume's congressional seat gathered last night for the first public forum of the primary season, offering a variety of views on the challenges facing the 7th District.The two-hour forum, sponsored by Marylanders Organized for Responsibility and Equity (MORE), brought together candidates whose names are known throughout the 7th District, along with the politically unknown, and put them on stage together to answer questions.The extraordinary size of the field made the gathering at the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons of Maryland, on Eutaw Place, look more like a choir rehearsal than a political forum.

FROM THE BEGINNING, it was suspected that the race for the Democratic nomination in the 7th Congressional District might become a duel between state Del. Elijah E. Cummings and Rev. Frank M. Reid III. There were some wild cards that could have upset that possibility -- veteran legislators such as state Sen. Delores Kelley and Del. Ken Montague or the well-known lawyer A. Dwight Pettit. But the two candidates with the most potential for raising money and appealing to voters were Messrs. Cummings and Reid.

For Tuesday's election: The Sun endorses the following candidates in the March 5 Maryland primary. Voters may clip this list and take it with them when they cast their ballots.PresidentBob Dole (R)Bill Clinton (D)Congress1st District:Wayne T. Gilchrest (R)Steven R. Eastaugh (D)2nd District:Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R)Connie Galiazzo DeJuliis (D)3rd District:Benjamin L. Cardin (D)Patrick L. McDonough (R)4th District:Albert R. Wynn (D)Cesar Madarang (R)5th District:Steny H. Hoyer (D)John S. Morgan (R)

In yesterday's editions, the number of absentee ballots returned to the Baltimore County election board for the 7th Congressional District race was incorrectly reported. The number of ballots returned was about 400.The Sun regrets the error.Baltimore city and county voters in the 7th Congressional District are expected to come out in record numbers today for the special election to pick a successor to former Rep. Kweisi Mfume.Those would be record low numbers, election officials fear."It's going to be a sorry election," said Doris J. Suter, Baltimore County election administrator.

THERE HAS BEEN little visible campaigning for the special election Tuesday to determine who finishes the nine months left in the 7th Congressional District term of new NAACP President Kweisi Mfume. The candidates didn't want to spend a lot of money in a contest that is expected to be one-sided. And the public, expecting the same, hasn't shown more concern.The lack of excitement belies the race's importance. The winner will likely win a full two-year term in November. Baltimore makes up most of the 7th, which also includes part of western Baltimore County.

The next phase of a historic, quirky process that began in December is scheduled Tuesday, when voters in the 7th District will have the opportunity to elect a congressman to finish the last nine months of former Rep. Kweisi Mfume's term.The special congressional election next week pits Del. Elijah E. Cummings, a West Baltimore Democrat, against Kenneth Kondner, a Woodlawn Republican.Mr. Cummings and Mr. Kondner, winners in last month's primary election, will face each other again in the Nov. 5 general election for the full, two-year congressional term that begins in January.

Even in this real estate market, a for-sale sign can create a buzz. A "STUNNING/ELEGANT" 6BR, 31/2 BA house for sale in Reisterstown has people talking. It's not the "updated" kitchen that's generating interest. Nor the "lush landscaping." It's the political intrigue. Jim Smith, the term-limited Baltimore County exec, is selling the house and moving to an apartment in Andy Harris' state Senate district, where he'll mull a run for that seat. Smith and his wife, whose four children are grown, put their house up for sale two weeks ago. "My wife and I are planning to downsize," Smith said.

Neither rain nor low voter turn out kept nearly all of the incumbent Democrats from racking up commanding leads as votes were tallied last night in the primary election for Baltimore City Council seats. With nearly all precincts reporting the following incumbents appeared to have retained their seats, according to the unofficial vote count: James Kraft in the 1st District, Nicholas C. D'Adamo Jr. in the 2nd District, Robert W. Curran in the 3rd District, Belinda K. Conaway in the 7th District, Helen L. Holton in the 8th District, Agnes Welch in the 9th District, Edward L. Reisinger in the 10th District, Bernard C. "Jack" Young in the 12th District and Mary Pat Clarke in the 14th District.

In the City Council districts that flank Baltimore's western border, a diverse collection of neighborhoods encompassing Ashburton and Edmondson Village, Uplands and historic Dickeyville, all three incumbents are seeking another term. 8th District In the 8th District, Councilwoman Helen L. Holton is battling three opponents in the Democratic primary, trying to represent the westernmost communities along Edmondson and Frederick avenues. Holton, who is a recruitment and marketing manager as well as an investment adviser, said she spent a lot of her past term getting to know the territory that made up her turf - much of which was new to her after council districts were redrawn in 2004.

Two-term Del. Bobby A. Zirkin appeared to be on his way to winning a hard-fought primary contest for a state Senate seat last night, and former Baltimore County Councilman Douglas B. Riley took a step toward returning to elected office. Zirkin had a more than 2-to-1 lead over Owings Mills physician Scott Rifkin for the Democratic nomination for the state Senate seat in a district that includes Pikesville and Owings Mills. "I hope this is a message the 11th District has sent that this type of dirty, nasty campaigning does not work," Zirkin said last night.

MARYLAND'S congressional races this year demonstrate clearly what a disservice the most recent redrawing of the district boundaries was to representative government. The map drawn after the 2000 Census made it easy for Democrats to claim two districts long held by Republicans, enlarging party ranks in what had been an evenly divided eight-member delegation. But the contortions of district boundaries required to achieve that goal sliced through communities and neighborhoods, often combining a hodgepodge of urban, suburban and rural voters with little in common.

Antonio P. Salazar, a Republican from Ellicott City and deputy general counsel for Provident Bank, plans to announce tomorrow his candidacy for Maryland's 7th District congressional seat - held by Baltimore Democrat Elijah E. Cummings. Salazar has scheduled announcements in Northwest Baltimore at 10:30 a.m., in Catonsville at the Candle Light Inn restaurant at 1:30 p.m., and in Columbia at the Swansfield Neighborhood Center at 4:30 p.m. The 7th District covers most of West Baltimore, western Baltimore County and Howard County from Ellicott City to Lisbon and the North Laurel area.

The race for the council seat in Baltimore's 7th District is a wide-open field -- both literally and figuratively. The district stretches from predominantly African-American areas as far west as Walbrook to primarily white neighborhoods in North Baltimore around Hampden. It includes all of Druid Hill Park. Of the 14 City Council districts, it is one of just three without an incumbent running in the Sept. 9 primary election. Councilwoman Catherine E. Pugh would have been the incumbent had she not chosen to run for the citywide post of council president.

Undaunted by repeated rejections by the county executive and a strong community backlash, an eastern Baltimore County legislator continues to press for a plan to allow private developers to construct housing on a 52-acre site where a public park is planned. In his latest effort, Del. Richard K. Impallaria, a Republican representing the 7th District, sought legal guidance from the state attorney general on his proposal to build houses at the former site of the Villages of Tall Trees, a troubled, World War II-era apartment complex demolished last year.

REP. ELIJAH Cummings, Baltimore's 7th District congressman, finds himself talking to a lot more people these days. Ascending to the chairmanship of the Congressional Black Caucus will do that for you. On Thursday afternoon around 4:30, Cummings found himself in a conference call with members of the Trotter Group, an organization of some of the finest newspaper columnists in the land who happen to be black. Of course, being chairman of the CBC means you have to be Democrat and liberal.

A proposed shelter site in Joppa for Harford County's homeless was withdrawn yesterday in response to strong community opposition, likely restarting a search process that has been several years in the making. Faith Communities and Civic Agencies United, a consortium that has sought a shelter site since the 1990s, announced its withdrawal last night at a community meeting at Prince of Peace Roman Catholic Church in Edgewood. The group withdrew the proposal after witnessing the public display of opposition from both the community and the area's 7th District legislative delegation.