Campaign For Mayor

They ought to make one last episode of "Homicide," set amid the campaign for mayor of Baltimore, with the candidates playing themselves.Economists define a durable good as something that lasts three years. Like tissue paper.Explain again how just because it's raining doesn't mean the drought is over.Read this. This is a test. If you can read this, go on to something longer.

After eight years of receiving crucial support for his mayoral administration, Gov. Martin O'Malley came to Baltimore yesterday to return the favor to Mayor Sheila Dixon. O'Malley joined former Rep. Kweisi Mfume in officially endorsing Dixon, lending her mayoral campaign the biggest names to date with less than a month before the Democratic primary. Standing outside of City Hall in War Memorial Plaza, the trio emerged to the 1980s classic song "Eye of the Tiger," where they were joined by a legion of city and state elected officials.

Mary Pat Clarke ran a spirited, energetic, enticing and surprisingly effective campaign for mayor that embodied the very reasons Baltimore's political scene will miss her.Upon her defeat by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, Mrs. Clarke said it was her last campaign for political office, even though she pledged to continue her activism in civic life. She said she had high hopes for the generation of leadership that is ascending in Baltimore, including her choice to succeed her as council president, Lawrence Bell.

Some of the largest donors to Andrey Bundley's underdog campaign for mayor are himself, the 4 Aces Bail Bonds company of East Baltimore and Tyrone's Fried Chicken of West Baltimore. The biggest donors to Mayor Martin O'Malley's re-election effort include Ravens owners Art and Patricia Modell, the prestigious law firm of Whiteford, Taylor and Preston and the Phillips Restaurant at the Inner Harbor. Not surprisingly, O'Malley has a bit more money. To be exact, the incumbent has 88 times as much campaign cash in the bank -- $2 million compared to the $22,753 for Bundley, the principal of Walbrook High School making his first run for office.

Washington officially got a new mayor this week when Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as the first woman to lead the District of Columbia. At her inauguration, Dixon, a former utility company executive who had never held elective office, pledged "to give the people of this city the government they deserve and respect," and said what Washingtonians wanted most from their elected officials was simply "an honest deal."Dixon assumes office at a time when the District faces a mounting budget deficit, growing street violence and troubled schools.

Alderman M. Theresa DeGraff filed amended financial disclosure forms with the Annapolis city clerk's office Friday after it was discovered last week that the mayoral hopeful had violated city election laws when she failed to file these forms in July.Records show that a report was submitted for the DeGraffCampaign Committee on June 30, 1995. But Aug. 1 of that year, a new Friends of Terrie DeGraff campaign committee took over.DeGraff should have filed a final closing report for her old committee by July 1, 1996.

Despite earlier statements that he would formally announce his candidacy for mayor last night, Carl Stokes delayed his announcement and held a smaller-than-expected meeting of campaign supporters. About 50 friends and volunteers from his 1999 campaign for mayor turned out for a reception last night at the Forum catering hall on Primrose Avenue in West Baltimore. This was fewer than the 75 to 125 that the former city councilman said he was expecting early in the day. But Stokes said he was not disappointed because the meeting was not intended as a large fund-raiser, but instead as a small meeting of his campaign volunteers.

The Annapolis Elections Board is looking into possible campaign finance violations by Democratic candidate Dennis Callahan for a poll and fund-raising letter conducted on behalf of his campaign for mayor.At issue is whether a recent favorable poll for Callahan had the authorization of Callahan's campaign committee or was conducted independently by supporter Wayne Rogers, president of Synergics Energy Development in Annapolis.Board officials said at a meeting in City Hall last night that the poll and a July 25 letter promoting a fund-raiser next Tuesday for the former mayor at Loews Annapolis Hotel "raised some questions."

John B. Ascher's campaign for mayor got off to a rocky start yesterday.Mr. Ascher, a follower of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche, arrived to make his official announcement in City Hall Plaza just as a light rain began to fall.Moments later, a City Hall guard strode across the plaza to inquire -- with a scowl -- just what he and his half-dozen supporters were doing.And although Mr. Asher eagerly offered campaign literature to anyone who looked his way as they hurried past, few people bothered to take it.One man who did take his campaign handout read a few lines before crumpling it into a ball.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke is describing his first brush with his personal family history and he is being disarmingly casual about it -- a chuckle here, a shrug there -- as if it were no big thing. But anyone from Mayor Schmoke's generation would find his story painfully familiar. "I really remember the event," the mayor said."We were in junior high school -- Garrison Junior High -- and the teacher was doing a unit on immigrants. 'Who the Americans Are'? Something along those lines. The class assignment was for each of us to go back and trace our genealogy as far as we could.

Despite earlier statements that he would formally announce his candidacy for mayor last night, Carl Stokes delayed his announcement and held a smaller-than-expected meeting of campaign supporters. About 50 friends and volunteers from his 1999 campaign for mayor turned out for a reception last night at the Forum catering hall on Primrose Avenue in West Baltimore. This was fewer than the 75 to 125 that the former city councilman said he was expecting early in the day. But Stokes said he was not disappointed because the meeting was not intended as a large fund-raiser, but instead as a small meeting of his campaign volunteers.

They ought to make one last episode of "Homicide," set amid the campaign for mayor of Baltimore, with the candidates playing themselves.Economists define a durable good as something that lasts three years. Like tissue paper.Explain again how just because it's raining doesn't mean the drought is over.Read this. This is a test. If you can read this, go on to something longer.

Baltimore Democrats outnumber Republican voters 9 to 1, odds that traditionally make the winner of the GOP September primary political road kill in November.The last Republican to be elected Baltimore mayor was Theodore R. McKeldin, 36 years ago.Amid the city's 17-candidate Democratic primary brawl, the city's six Republican hopefuls are struggling to have their campaigns heard.Republican mayoral candidate David F. Tufaro has the support of party leaders in his bid to capture the majority of the 30,000 Republican voters.

Republican Dean L. Johnson pulled off an easy victory last night that left his Democratic opponent Dennis M. Callahan stunned at a 4,127 to 3,416 gap in what many had predicted would be a close race for mayor of Annapolis.Less than 25 minutes after the polls closed at 8 p.m., Callahan, a one-term former mayor who's now lost three bids to repeat in the job, called Johnson's West Street campaign headquarters. That room erupted in cheers as he conceded. Less than 10 minutes later, champagne was flowing.

The Annapolis Elections Board is looking into possible campaign finance violations by Democratic candidate Dennis Callahan for a poll and fund-raising letter conducted on behalf of his campaign for mayor.At issue is whether a recent favorable poll for Callahan had the authorization of Callahan's campaign committee or was conducted independently by supporter Wayne Rogers, president of Synergics Energy Development in Annapolis.Board officials said at a meeting in City Hall last night that the poll and a July 25 letter promoting a fund-raiser next Tuesday for the former mayor at Loews Annapolis Hotel "raised some questions."

Alderman M. Theresa DeGraff filed amended financial disclosure forms with the Annapolis city clerk's office Friday after it was discovered last week that the mayoral hopeful had violated city election laws when she failed to file these forms in July.Records show that a report was submitted for the DeGraffCampaign Committee on June 30, 1995. But Aug. 1 of that year, a new Friends of Terrie DeGraff campaign committee took over.DeGraff should have filed a final closing report for her old committee by July 1, 1996.

Allies of Annapolis Alderman Carl O. Snowden sailed uncharted political waters last week, staging a $1,000-a-person fund-raiser to finance his potential run for mayor."

It's not only the bargain prices on fresh fruit and vegetables that bring Jay Klein to the Waverly farmers' market each Saturday. He comes mostly to enjoy its neighborly atmosphere -- an atmosphere he says he'll miss when he sells his home and moves out of Baltimore.But he won't miss the burden of higher property taxes, failing schools and frightening crime. And nothing that was said during this summer's campaign for city offices has made him believe things are going to get any better in the next four years.

Allies of Annapolis Alderman Carl O. Snowden sailed uncharted political waters last week, staging a $1,000-a-person fund-raiser to finance his potential run for mayor."

Mary Pat Clarke ran a spirited, energetic, enticing and surprisingly effective campaign for mayor that embodied the very reasons Baltimore's political scene will miss her.Upon her defeat by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, Mrs. Clarke said it was her last campaign for political office, even though she pledged to continue her activism in civic life. She said she had high hopes for the generation of leadership that is ascending in Baltimore, including her choice to succeed her as council president, Lawrence Bell.