Campaign

The woman who says she represents North American Power is not telling the truth about the benefits of buying electricity from her company. "You can save up to 10, 15, 20 percent of your bill, depending on your usage," she says in a telemarketing call to my house. But the rate she eventually quotes is only about 7 percent less than the standard price offered by Baltimore Gas & Electric — something the average customer would have no way of knowing. And of course the percentage savings won't vary even if my "usage" goes up to that of a steel mill.

With nine national championships in 13 attempts, Salisbury's run of postseason success is eclipsed only by Hobart's record of 13 NCAA titles in 14 tournament final appearances. Sunday's title contest against SUNY-Cortland will be the third consecutive year in which the Sea Gulls have reached the NCAA championship game, but just getting there is not enough for a few players. “We all know what it takes,” senior midfielder Sam Bradman said. “We know it's not anything if we just make it there.

Why does The Sun allow Dan Rodricks to have a column on the front page with his idiotic views ("Drawing the line in cutthroat business of politics," Dec. 7)? In his column, he points out the use of fraud to get people to go to the polls is illegal in Maryland and wants to bash Paul Schurick for doing so. He fails to allude to all the signs for President Barack Obama that appeared during the 2010 election in African American communities in an attempt to get blacks to believe they needed to go to the polls to vote for Mr. Obama.

The Obama presidential campaign is debuting its latest online campaign organizing tool for the 2012 election, one that is expected to be use by volunteers across the country to connect with voters. The Wall Street Journal had a report on the tool -- called Dashboard -- that the Obama campaign is unveiling today. President Obama ran an aggressive online campaign back in 2008. Expect more online blitzes this year. Meanwhile, Mashable reports Mitt Romney has his own online social network for volunteers, called MyMitt . I'd love to hear from volunteers in Maryland who are using these online tools to help these campaigns with organization.

The United Way's 28th annual Haverst for the Hungry campaign is underway. The food-collection drive continues through Saturday. It's simple. You just leave non-perishable goods by your own mailbox and your letter carrier will pick up your donation and get it to the right folks. For more information and guidelines about what to donate, go to Harvest for the Hungry website . You can also donate money through Give Corps , and if you do you'll be eligible for a $20-off deal from Tapas Teatro . Other partners for the Harvest for the Hungry include Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, the United States Postal Service, WBAL-TV 11, The Baltimore Sun Media Group, Safeway and Girl Scouts of Central Maryland.

Baltimore's own Carmelo Anthony is the latest celebrity to don a milk mustache. Except his is chocolate. The Knicks star is helping launch the latest campaign for the Milk Processsor Education Program, which is famous for the "Got Milk?" campaign and milk mustaches. The new spin is  "Got Chocolate Milk?" Melo was all over the place Monday promoting the drink, first on the Mike & Mike radio show, then on to Dan Patrick. He Tweeted about both appearances. Anthony will be appearing in print and television ads touting the health and workout benefits of chugging chocolate milk.

Who knew rocker Tommy Lee was such a softie? The creators of Baltimore's Show Your Soft Side campaign, apparently, since they convinced the founding member of Motley Crue to join their movement pushing for the humane treatment of animals. Lee's ad was just unveiled. It shows the drummer, with a tattoo of lipsticked lips visible on his neck, leaning in to plant a wet one in the same spot on a small, honey-colored pup. The copy with it reads, "This bad boy has added a new four-letter word to his vocabulary.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich will be campaigning in Western Maryland ahead of Tuesday's primary. Gingrich is scheduled to hold a rally at the Frederick Motor Company at 11 a.m. Monday and to speak at Hood College at 2 p.m. Hood spokesman Dave Diehl tells The Frederick News-Post that Gingrich's campaign called the college's director of student activities to schedule the visit. Gingrich will meet with student Republicans after his speech. Gingrich has conceded that Mitt Romney is the likely Republican nominee, and his campaign laid off one-third of its staff last week to save money.

Last year Baltimore got to know a new movement pushing for the humane treatment of animals. Called "Show Your Soft Side," the campaign featured well-known, tough role models cuddling the pets they love and saying, "Only a punk would hurt a dog or cat. " The campaign, launched in the wake of some heart-breaking instances of animal abuse in Baltimore, is easiest to spot on billboards around town. At the time the campaign rolled out, organizers promised there would be a contest where someone would be named "Baltimore Biggest Softie," with the chance to have their face, and their pet, on a billboard.

Once again, The Sun urges the institution of public campaign financing, implying that if such a plan were instituted, private campaign contributions would disappear and we'd all live happily ever after ("Appearance of conflict," Nov. 29). Nothing could be further from the truth. For one thing, there is that pesky First Amendment. For another, as our president demonstrated in his 2008 campaign, if you have enough private contributions, you can finance a campaign very nicely without utilizing public financing.

The Catholic Church, embroiled in a dispute with the Obama administration over new health insurance rules, has chosen Baltimore to kick off a national campaign it says is aimed at promoting religious liberty. Archbishop William E. Lori is scheduled to celebrate mass at the Baltimore Basilica on June 21 to open the "Fortnight for Freedom," a two-week national campaign of special liturgies, prayer services and other events leading up to the Fourth of July. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is the oldest Catholic diocese in the United States.

With residents being bombarded by fliers, robocalls, even a telephone opinion survey, the fight over the future of the former Solo Cup site in Baltimore County is taking on the trappings of a political campaign. As the debate continues about whether the county should allow a Wegmans supermarket and other development at the former manufacturing plant on Reisterstown Road, two other developers in the area are fighting the project — and each side is trying to rally community support.

Maybe what this country needs on the Supreme Court is a real politician or at least a sensible political scientist or two. Perhaps they would help the court's majority understand how it has allowed unlimited big-donor money to contaminate and almost destroy our politics. The infamous Citizens United decision -- which permits corporations and individuals to flood election campaigns with torrents of cash through super PACs as long as they are independent of candidates' formal organizations -- has invited some of the worst abuses of negative campaigning.

Despite financing more than $140 million city contracts in the past 12 years, donating tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates and being a member of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's inner circle, J.P. Grant III has largely avoided the limelight. Then this week Grant, a West Baltimore native, stepped into the public glare as one of the latest saviors of the troubled Baltimore Grand Prix. City leaders, of course, already knew him. When he walked into a meeting of Baltimore's spending board this week, they greeted him warmly.

Readers of this blog know I have been grinding my teeth for years over President Obama's masterful manipulation of TV. It's not about Obama, it's about the press looking the other way, rolling over and refusing to critique and deconstruct the way Team Obama uses the media and the media allows themselves to be used. And so, I sat down to watch him on"The View"  Tuesday loaded for bear after hearing the disingenuous press bashing he did in his commencement address at Barnard Monday.

Campaign 2012 is now joined. The darts heretofore traded between the Obama and Romney camps now have extra-sharp tips. And it's going to stay this way through to Nov. 2. Most pundits predict a "razor close" and "particularly ugly" campaign. I concur. So, which storyline is a political junkie to follow in light of the 24/7 coverage given to this race for the ages? Which subplot is most instructive with regard to the ultimate outcome? A few thoughts for your consideration: •Youth.

So much for the mother's milk of American politics. In Baltimore, it's orange juice. Del. Keiffer Mitchell endorsed Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's re-election campaign in a video released Monday -- one day she drew crowds to his OJ stand at the farmers' market. Coincidence? Mitchell copped to the quid pro quo when I spoke with him just now. He said Mayor SRB came by his stand Sunday. She wasn't buying, but her photographer took a glass of juice. Soon a crowd gathered to see the mayor, and suddenly Mitchell was squeezing up a storm.

State Sen. Rob Garagiola will report raising $330,000 for his Democratic bid for Congress, a campaign official said Tuesday -- a haul that is twice as large as what Republican incumbent Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett is expected to report bringing in over the same period. Garagiola, who is running in Maryland's newly redrawn 6th Congressional District, formally entered the race in November and has been working aggressively behind the scenes to line up political and financial support.

Standing before some 30 activists and Union Square neighbors Saturday in a neon orange T-shirt with the words "I am Baltimore," 16-year-old Antonio Ellis recited a gritty poem about how the city appears through his eyes. "Born and raised in the city, where youth are always misunderstood. / Being judged based on skin color or because they're from the 'hood," the Reginald F. Lewis High School sophomore said in a lyrical rhythm. "Living in the city, where there is little chance to succeed.

Terry Weldon Taylor, a former public affairs director of a Baltimore health center and veteran political operative, died Wednesday from complications of a stroke at Northwest Hospital. The Windsor Mills resident was 62. "I got to know him through the late Wendell H. Phillips, who was the pastor of Heritage United Church of Christ and had served in the Maryland House of Delegates. Terry had all of the political spirituality of that congregation," said City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke.