Campaign 1994

For years, he was the state senator with too many letters in his name to attempt pronunciation, the guy who ran a Canton bar with 75-cent Natty Boh on tap and a quarter-a-game pool table -- a "must" stop for Democratic pols wooing the East Baltimore vote.But nearly 10 months ago, American Joe Miedusiewski donned a statesman's blue suit, climbed into his leased Lincoln Town Car and began criss-crossing Maryland to convince voters he was a serious candidate for governor.Since then, Mr. Miedusiewski, 44, and his 30-year-old campaign manager, James Brochin, have been waging a street-smart, old-fashioned bid for governor -- an operation run on a shoestring, mostly out of the trunk of the car.They are trying to make real the improbable dream of putting a tavern manager with a lackluster legislative record on the second floor of the Maryland State House.

Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. heard final arguments today in the trial of Ellen R. Sauerbrey's legal challenge to the November gubernatorial election, which she narrowly lost to Democrat Parris N. Glendenning.An attorney for Mr. Sauerbrey, Byron Warnken, said examples of fraud and mismanagement are "more than ample to create a substantial probability that [they] might have affected the outcome of this election."Your honor . . . should vacate this election and order a new election," he said.

Either Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey is swimming against the current of public opinion or she has caught the edge of a changing political tide that is about to sweep Maryland in a completely new direction.Whatever voters decide, her up-from-nowhere campaign for governor has been a relentless, bruising attack on the philosophical underpinnings of government that Marylanders have embraced for decades.A victory by Mrs. Sauerbrey on Nov. 8 would make her Maryland's first Republican governor since Spiro T. Agnew won in 1966, and its first woman governor ever.

Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey told Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. yesterday that she intends to file suit today in state court challenging the Nov. 8 general election and asked that he exclude himself from the state's defense.At a private meeting in Mr. Curran's office, set up at her request, Mrs. Sauerbrey told the attorney general that she was contesting the governor's race because of certain irregularities in the election and "very questionable practices" by the state election board, she said.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate American Joe Miedusiewski will begin airing his second radio "attack ad" today, a 60-second spot that accuses party front-runner Parris N. Glendening of "exaggerating his resume."Although unstated in the ad, Mr. Miedusiewski, a state senator from Baltimore, said the allegation refers to Mr. Glendening's claim that he was a police commissioner when he served on the city council of Hyattsville in 1973 and 1974. Mr. Miedusiewski contends Mr. Glendening was nothing more than a liaison with the police force on budget matters.

In what may be an important signal or merely an act of political friendship, Gov. William Donald Schaefer is arranging a fund-raising breakfast for state Sen. American Joe Miedusiewski, the only one among the Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls he can stand.Mr. Schaefer has agreed to organize the $250-a-person breakfast Aug. 9 at a private home in the Canton section of East Baltimore, which Mr. Miedusiewski has represented in the General Assembly since 1975."The governor likes him [Mr. Miedusiewski]

U.S. Rep. Helen Delich Bentley said she topped $1 million in total campaign contributions with a major Baltimore area reception last night, giving her a substantial lead over her two rivals for the Republican nomination for governor."

Ellen R. Sauerbrey won the Republican nomination for governor by grabbing voters by the pocketbook, promising them tax relief and a smaller government in a message both clear and consistent.She started campaigning early, never wavered, and in the end energized the conservative voters most likely to turn out in a GOP primary, including gun rights advocates, anti-abortion Christians and tax rebels.Helen Delich Bentley lost Tuesday's primary because she ran an aloof, almost arrogant campaign in which she seemed more interested in being anointed than elected.

The second act curtain has gone up on the gubernatorial election year saga to reveal a breathtaking sight -- Lt. Gov. Melvin A. Steinberg, the one-time Democratic front-runner, alone the stage, reeling, abandoned by friends and supporters, his campaign in near meltdown.The performance of Mr. Steinberg over the past several months, a period during which he may well have turned likely victory into humiliating defeat, provided the high point of act one.Mr. Steinberg continues to provide the dramatic tension.

As an embittered Baltimore County Executive Roger B. Hayden contemplated his defeat yesterday, he blamed everyone but himself.He blamed what he called a deceitful, "gutter" campaign by his victorious Democratic opponent, Charles A. Dutch Ruppersberger III. He blamed a gullible electorate. He blamed what he said was a negligent and biased press corps.He said he ran an aggressive campaign based on four years of hard work and tough choices made without thought to his own political survival, but he admitted that he has no idea why the voters did not hear his message.

CHICAGO -- Precinct captains stood outside nearly empty polling places. They looked at their lists and checked off names. They got people rides to the polls. They got baby sitters for voters' children. They slipped reminders on people's front porches and palm cards in their hands.They got doors slammed in their faces and weak promises from voters who vowed they would vote but did not.By the end of Election Day in a city where politics is a blood sport more important than even baseball, less than half of the voters had cast ballots for state and congressional races that politicians said could change the face of Washington.

WASHINGTON -- An election that could profoundly change the balance of U.S. politics goes to the voters today, after the most expensive -- and one of the meanest -- midterm campaigns on record.The change seemed rooted in a bitterly anti-Washington, anti-politician mood -- much like the one that swept out President George Bush in 1992.Feeding that angry sentiment was an unrelenting string of negative TV ads, fueled by more than $550 million in campaign funds in Senate and House races, a record high, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Anne Arundel voters will chose today between a Linthicum druggist and a Millersville draper to succeed Republican Robert R. Neall, a former grocer, as county executive.Dels. Theodore J. Sophocleus, a Democrat, and John G. Gary, a Republican, have each touted his own business and legislative experience as best qualifying him to manage the county's $711 million budget and its services, including public education, police and fire protection, libraries and trash disposal."The key message for me is, you need a strong manager used to dealing with big numbers," said Mr. Sophocleus, former president of a Corpus Christi, Texas, chain of pharmacies and former councilman.

In what one candidate calls "a struggle for the soul of Maryland," voters today will decide a too-close-to-call governor's race that could spin the state into a political U- turn.And it doesn't stop there. A reputedly restive electorate must also choose between continuity and change in numerous other contests, including those for state attorney general, comptroller, eight congressional seats and U.S. senator.Political professionals say that a modest turnout will favor the Republican candidate in the governor's race, Ellen R. Sauerbrey.

In what one candidate calls "a struggle for the soul of Maryland," voters today were deciding a too-close-to-call governor's race that could spin the state into a political U-turn.A reputedly restive electorate also was choosing between continuity and change in numerous other contests, including those for state attorney general, comptroller, eight congressional seats and U.S. senator.Political professionals say that a modest turnout would favor the Republican candidate in the governor's race, Ellen R. Sauerbrey.

WASHINGTON -- Here's how to watch the election returns tonight.Although there are many important gubernatorial elections, the most significant question for the long term nationally is whether the Republicans can gain the seven seats they need to control the Senate, the 40 to control the House of Representatives or both.Unless the final margins are paper-thin, there are several Senate and House races that could provide clues relatively early in the evening about voting trends in the rest of the nation.

And on the seventh day, they went to church.Locked in a governor's race too close to call, Democrat Parris N. Glendening pleaded for a large voter turnout at four predominantly black churches in Baltimore while Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey preached her gospel of leaner government at small black church in rural Montgomery County.The faithful on both sides also had a frenzied day of literature drops, car caravans and planning for what Republicans hope will bea landmark election reversing nearly three decades of Democratic control of the governor's office.