Campaign

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Once again, John Edwards' money is getting in the way of his message. His Democratic presidential campaign spent yesterday responding to a front-page Wall Street Journal report showing that a company Edwards worked for and has invested $16 million in, Fortress Investment Group, owns mortgage companies that have moved to foreclose on homeowners in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. The newspaper identified 34 homes in foreclosure suits. Edwards, who made a fortune as a trial lawyer, worked for Fortress from late 2005 through 2006.

Dr. Keiffer J. Mitchell Sr. didn't do his son, the mayoral candidate, a favor this week when he tried to explain his use of $40,000 in campaign funds. The elder Mitchell's attempt Monday returned to the public spotlight an issue of questionable spending that his son, Baltimore City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., had put to rest last week. Having two well-known but often polarizing Baltimore lawyers do the explaining - literally, the talking - for Dr. Mitchell turned a campaign misstep into an attack on the media.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking advice on "one of the most important issues" of her presidential campaign: picking a campaign theme song. More than 100,000 Americans have responded to her lighthearted call for help. Some have been inspired to compose original tunes. The reaction is another example of the Internet's growing role in politics. More than 500,000 people have watched Clinton's videotaped appeal on YouTube or her campaign Web site since the campaign posted it Wednesday.

Much like visitors who gawk at fish in the National Aquarium, a delegation of Mozambique politicians came to Baltimore yesterday to observe the city's newest exhibit: the 1999 mayor's race.The eight African officials are guests of the National Democratic Institute, a Washington agency created to foster world democracy. The contingent, which included two elections commissioners, spent a day with three of Baltimore's leading mayoral candidates, getting a front-row seat to what has become a turbulent campaign involving 27 candidates.

With the city election over, Mayor-elect Martin O'Malley says it's time to party.The northeast city councilman, who bested 27 candidates to succeed Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke next month, will be throwing two huge parties over the next two weeks.The first will take place tonight in Lexington Market for O'Malley campaign supporters.As many as 2,500 O'Malley backers are expected to attend the invitation-only event being billed as: "Giving Thanks: A Celebration of Community."The affair will include international food stations, and supporters will be given $10 in vouchers to purchase goods.

The freckle-faced, little girl runs up to the bathtub, a towel in one hand, a snorkeling mask in the other and flippers on her feet. A row of toy sea creatures perches on the edge of the tub.No sooner does her swimsuit dip beneath the surface, she becomes a famous marine biologist studying a pageant of coral-reef fish, dolphins, a prickly puffer fish and a shark. When she comes up for air, there's even a bit of seaweed caught in her face mask.The National Aquarium hopes to use those images, captured in a colorful 30-second television spot, to remind viewers that a visit to the aquarium is a fun, educational experience that sparks the imagination long afterward.

ONE EARLY evening more than 40 years ago, in my first professional involvement in presidential politics, along with perhaps 20 other reporters I boarded President Dwight D. Eisenhower's campaign train at Union Station in Washington. We were bound for Philadelphia, where the president was to speak in his pursuit of a 1956 re-election victory over the Democratic nominee, Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois.En route, White House and campaign aides circulated texts of Eisenhower's speech so that we members of the traveling press could meet early morning-edition deadlines.

For the first time, the three agencies that promote the city and its events have joined forces through a single, quirky advertising campaign that celebrates all things uniquely Baltimore.The three agencies, the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, Downtown Partnership and the Baltimore Office of Promotion, pitched in to pay for the creation of the branding campaign, called "Baltibaloo." Each organization will use the campaign in ways tailored for its constituents."We were looking for something new and different," said Dan M. Lincoln, vice president of tourism and communications for BACVA.

Gerard Shields, a City Hall reporter for The Sun, helped cover Baltimore's mayoral primary races for the newspaper. A week after the voting, Shields shook his notebook and came up with the following notes, quotes and sundry observations from one of the more memorable city elections in decades.Key moment: It came when supporters of City Council President Lawrence A. Bell III shouted down leading state legislators at a rally for Bell's mayoral rival, Martin O'Malley. If anyone says Baltimoreans are not passionate about their politics, refer to this turning point.

WASHINGTON -- In Campaign 2000, democracy is just a mouse click away. Presidential politics will never be the same.Want to ask Vice President Al Gore about Kosovo? Volunteer for Elizabeth Hanford Dole? All without leaving your home or office? It's easy to do once you click onto their presidential campaign Web sites.Everyone running for president next year, or thinking about running, has one. Along with dollars and donors, it's become a required part of their arsenals.You can learn that Republican Sen. Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire was raised by his grandparents, or that Texas Gov. George W. Bush's wife, Laura, was a teacher.

Baltimore County Councilman Kenneth N. Oliver pleaded guilty Tuesday to pocketing $2,300 donated to his political campaign, but he did not have to account for an additional $15,000 that prosecutors say he mishandled. As part of a plea deal, the 64-year-old Randallstown Democrat agreed to pay a $2,500 fine and to serve 50 hours of community service observing the work of an accountant who is an expert in the proper use of campaign accounts. He also must serve a six-month period of probation, which will be supervised until he pays the fine and court costs.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. are starting the year flush with seven-figure campaign coffers, while Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley's roughly $2 million political bank account dwarfs that of former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, who has just $152,000. Annual campaign finance reports, due by midnight yesterday to the state Board of Elections, provide some insight into the political standing of the state's most prolific Democratic fundraisers, while raising questions about the statewide ambitions of Maryland's best-known Republicans.

Chicago - As he hosted a gala celebration for some of his earliest and most loyal financial supporters last night, President-elect Barack Obama's aides released new information showing the magnitude of their feat: They raised nearly $1 billion for his campaign and other election-related efforts. The stunning total also includes already recorded and estimated fundraising for his campaign, national convention, transition and coming inauguration. That sets a new and dramatically higher bar for future presidential candidates, radically changing the financial definition of a serious bid for the White House.

So this is what "change" looks like. After a campaign built on a word that many challenged as vague and meaningless, change came swiftly Tuesday. The polls had barely opened - with long lines of new voters, or simply newly invigorated ones - and already it was clear that this was going to be a different election than we'd seen in the last couple of presidential cycles. A giddy, festive day - free doughnuts! - turned into a celebratory night, from the new president-elect's huge victory party in Chicago to spontaneous streetcorner eruptions across the country.

Look, over there, you can see it from here! No, not Russia from Alaska, but the finish line. It's hard to believe not just that the end of the presidential campaign season is actually in sight, but that we're all going to have to find something else to do come Wednesday. In the spirit of those who have jumped the gun and published their postmortems - or pre-mortems, actually - on a race that won't be decided until Tuesday, I'm already feeling nostalgic for the campaign. Somehow, it managed to capture the worst of both a marathon (the length)

Barack Obama's 30-minute campaign commercial last night was not merely a tactical decision to barrage millions of Americans in pursuit of a few thousand undecided voters who can dictate the outcome of the presidential campaign. Aired on seven network and cable stations, the ad served as a national get-out-the-vote organizing tool for Obama operatives. It offered the chance to see Obama looking presidential. And once again it proved how Obama's deep pool of campaign cash has enabled him to rewrite the rules of presidential campaigning.

The tenor of the presidential campaign turned sharply negative this week, but the mud-slinging will likely have little effect on next month's election as long as the U.S. economy remains in turmoil, political observers said. "They can attack each other, they can throw pies, it just doesn't matter," said Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. What does matter, experts said, is the economy. A Gallup poll this week reported 69 percent of Americans pinpoint the economy as the nation's most critical problem, which means that even as insults and slurs clutter the campaign trail, the election will likely hinge on how Barack Obama and John McCain respond to what many are calling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

WASHINGTON - After largely staying on the sidelines, the types of independent groups that so affected the 2004 presidential campaign are flooding back as players in the final sprint to the election this fall, financing provocative messages on television, in mailboxes and through the Internet. MoveOn, the progressive group started 10 years ago to fight President Clinton's impeachment, says it will double its advertising budget to $7 million and start a new campaign this week that ties Republican John McCain to lobbyists.

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama holds a slight advantage over John McCain going into the final phase of the 2008 campaign, which is shaping up more as a personality contest than a battle of ideas. Both candidates are framing the choice for voters around a theme of change, but strategists - foreshadowing continued attacks by both campaigns and a heavy dose of negative ads - say that McCain's chances for winning may ultimately depend on his ability to stoke doubts about Obama's readiness for the presidency.

WASHINGTON - Get ready for the $500 million presidential campaign. That's how much money some Democratic strategists think Barack Obama can raise for the fall election now that he has reversed field and decided to opt out of the public financing system that limits the election spending of presidential candidates. "Raising a half billion dollars is a very realistic figure for him," said Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist and senior adviser to the last two Democratic presidential candidates.