Campaign Headquarters

WASHINGTON - For the third time, Al Gore's campaign has a new manager. Commerce Secretary William M. Daley was named campaign chairman yesterday after Tony Coelho resigned, citing health reasons. News of the shuffle overshadowed Gore's latest attempt to reposition his presidential candidacy and claim a measure of credit for the booming national economy. It also highlighted the vice president's repeated struggles to keep his campaign on track against a resilient Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- This, John McCain's campaign aides excitedly insist, is what political campaigns are supposed to look like: phones ringing off the hook, volunteers walking in off the street eager to do anything, staffers working round the clock fueled by hot dogs, doughnuts and the adrenalin that comes from backing the candidate of the moment. And this is exactly what the red-hot McCain campaign has looked like since last week's New Hampshire primary, since the insurgent Republican candidate knocked George W. Bush off what was once assumed to be an immovable front-runner perch, since everything has changed.

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Al Gore explains his decision to move his presidential campaign headquarters to Nashville, Tenn., by saying he wants to take it "directly to the grass roots and directly to the American people."Translation: I've got to do something to take the focus off me as a Washington political animal tethered to Monica Lewinsky's old boyfriend.The idea that moving a presidential campaign out of Washington will bring a candidate closer to the American people is laughable, considering how presidential campaigns are conducted these days.

Democratic 2nd District City Council candidate Beatrice "Bea" Gaddy ran her campaign headquarters out of a vacant rowhouse owned by a landlord criticized by a neighborhood organization for owning scores of rundown properties.In an agreement with Stanley Rochkind, Gaddy used the house in the 1800 block of North Washington St. for free in exchange for fixing it up. But after inquiries by The Sun, Gaddy, 66, returned the house to Rochkind this week."I've moved almost everything out because I know how people could perceive it," Gaddy said.

WASHINGTON -- After about 114 hours of near-nonstop campaigning, Bob Dole finally got a full night's sleep Tuesday night in his own bed.He woke up yesterday with, as he had foreseen, nothing to do. For the first time in nearly half a century, he held no political office, having resigned from the Senate to run for president and then watched as his presidential aspirations were crushed in Bill Clinton's landslide victory Tuesday.Dole spent a few quiet hours at his campaign headquarters here yesterday afternoon, wrapping up loose ends, posing for pictures with his aides and his Secret Service detail and perhaps giving a thought to the future.

Mobilized by both subtle and overt appeals to racial pride, an exceptionally large number of black voters turned out to cast their votes in Tuesday's Democratic primary and dramatically altered the political power structure in Baltimore.The high turnout not only gave Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke his surprisingly large margin of victory, but it also provided the necessary boost likely to put African-Americans in the city's other two top offices.With an estimated three out of five votes cast by African-Americans, Mr. Schmoke won a 20-point victory over rival Mary Pat Clarke; Lawrence A. Bell III captured the nomination for City Council president against a lone white candidate despite a splintered black vote, and political novice Joan M. Pratt prevailed against a veteran white legislator.

While city police said yesterday that they had no leads in the May 16 burglary of mayoral candidate Mary Pat Clarke's campaign headquarters, two of Mrs. Clarke's staff members are offering a $1,000 reward for the return of a computer taken during the break-in.Police said the burglary took place after an 8-by-15-inch plywood panel anchoring a window air-conditioning unit was removed from the third floor of Mrs. Clarke's headquarters, located in a rowhouse at 2511 N. Charles St.A laptop computer worth $6,000 that contained a detailed analysis of voting patterns in Baltimore was stolen along with $40 in cash, a television, a videocassette recorder and a telephone, said Cheryl Benton, Mrs. Clarke's campaign manager.

The sweet voice of Josephine Sloan is being heard a great deal in Baltimore these days.You can't catch her on TV or radio, but you might soon hear her on your telephone.She sits at a long table on the lower level of Kurt Schmoke campaign headquarters. She dials phone number after phone number, hour after hour."I'm calling at the request of Mayor Schmoke," she says in a grandmotherly voice. "The mayor wants to know if he can count on your support for his re-election in September."If the person called says he is a Schmoke supporter, he is invited down to campaign headquarters to be a volunteer.

Meet the candidates at Joppatowne parkMeet candidates who are running for county and state offices at a Candidates' Day from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. today at the pavilion at Mariner's Point Park on Kearney Drive in Joppatowne.Barbecue, hot dogs and nachos will be for sale by the Joppatowne High School Athletic Booster Club.The event is jointly sponsored by the Joppatowne Civic Association, Foster Branch Homeowners Association and Rumsey Island Residents Association. It will take place rain or shine.

Democrats to open campaign headquartersThe Carroll County Democratic Party will have a grand opening of its campaign headquarters at 37 E. Main St. in Westminster from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow.Maryland Comptroller of the Treasury Louis L. Goldstein is scheduled to attend.Shepard, Gouge set fund-raiser SaturdayRepublican gubernatorial candidate William S. Shepard and his running mate, Carroll Commissioner Julia W. Gouge, will sponsor a fund-raiser Saturday at the Sykesville Fire Hall.A social hour will begin at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 per person.