Campaign Staff

Capital News Service reporter Stacy Jones reports from Crofton: Republican gubernatorial challenger Brian Murphy says he'll give former Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. his endorsement -- but only if he's willing to accept it. "He's made it pretty clear that he doesn't want much to do with me," Murphy said after conceding the GOP primary to the former governor. "Of course I thought I was the better candidate, but somebody's got to beat [Democrat Martin] O'Malley. " The Sarah Palin-endorsed tea party favorite conceded the primary late Tuesday after nearly three hours of waiting anxiously for the votes to be tallied.

Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has raised a stunning $1,596,881 to win re-election.Mr. Schmoke has spent $1,258,855 -- including $351,413.23 for fund-raisers and $230,333 to pay his campaign staff, according to the mayor's two-volume finance report filed yesterday.In contrast, the all-volunteer effort of former Mayor Clarence H. "Du" Burns has raised $118,802.Nearly all of it, however, has been spent by Mr. Burns to try and win back his City Hall office, according to Mr. Burns' report.And, with only three weeks left in the Democratic primary race, Mr. Schmoke has $338,026 left, compared with $8,617.

The state attorney general's office has filed a federal complaint against a political consultant who sent out an Election Night "robocall" to thousands of Marylanders suggesting that they "relax" because the race was over. Julius Henson, a longtime political operative who had been hired by the campaign of Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., acknowledged last week that he was behind the calls after The Sun traced them to his company, Universal Elections. The complaint alleges that Henson and an employee, Rhonda Russell, violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by not identifying who was behind the messages.

Betsy Dahl's routine trip to the hairdresser Saturday ended with a black mark, so to speak. The Ellicott City woman, a registered independent voter, didn't give the green O'Malley-Brown bumper sticker on the rear of her new 2006 Honda a thought when she parked at a small shopping center on U.S. 40 in western Ellicott City on Saturday morning. But when she came back, she noticed someone had sprayed black paint over the sticker, and the paint was dripping onto the bumper. "I was very upset.

State's wineries get deadline extension The state comptroller's office will extend the time for Maryland wineries to begin distributing their products through a wholesaler from March 31 to June 1, easing a deadline one vintner had described as "draconian." Michael Golden, a spokesman for Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, said the extension would be issued today. Last week, the comptroller ruled that the state's 22 wineries, which for decades have had the right under state law to deal directly with restaurants and retailers, could no longer bypass wholesalers.

Robert W. Hughes, press secretary to Democratic Baltimore County Executive Dennis F. Rasmussen from 1987 to 1990, returned yesterday in the same role for Executive Roger B. Hayden, a Republican.Mr. Hughes, 44, is Mr. Hayden's fourth press secretary since his December 1990 inauguration. Ann Dandridge resigned two weeks ago to become part-time executive director of the Baltimore County Citizens Foundation and a consultant to the county Economic Development Commission.During the 1990 campaign in which he defeated Mr. Rasmussen, Mr. Hayden criticized his opponent for maintaining what he called a "bloated" communications office.

League lets Hickman join candidate forumThe League of Women Voters of Carroll County has announced that Tom Hickman will be included in the organization's Oct. 19 candidate forum.Mr. Hickman, who lost a close race to Jerry Barnes in the Republican primary Sept. 13, has declared himself a write-in candidate for state's attorney in the general election.League representatives said Mr. Hickman would be included because he has met the criteria of the group's board of directors: He filed promptly with the board of elections, made a public announcement of his intention to run as a write-in candidate and demonstrates a serious campaign by maintaining headquarters and campaign staff.

As many as 10,000 of Baltimore's primary votes could still be missing, according to Patricia Jessamy's state's attorney campaign staff, who told her that memory cards from 27 machines in six districts were unaccounted for. If accurate, it could leave room for the election to sway back toward Jessamy, the incumbent, who's narrowly trailing challenger Gregg Bernstein. But city Board of Elections Director Armstead B.C. Jones Sr. said the figures sounded high to him, and that none of it would matter by the end of the day. "We are going to get to 100 percent" of the votes cast at polling places, he said.

Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and William Cohen, R-Maine, probably have no expectation that their bill extending the law authorizing special prosecutors or independent counsels will be enacted. After 14 years, this is an idea whose time has obviously come and gone.One reason is that one case has occupied a special prosecutor for nearly half the life of the law. Lawrence Walsh and his subordinates have been investigating the Iran-contra affair for over five-and-a-half years. Many members of Congress oppose keeping the law on the books because they believe this case shows that a special prosecutor with explicit statutory authorization can become completely and dangerously out of control of the political and judicial systems.

Robert E. Comes, winner of the Democratic primary for sheriff, said he is ready to face incumbent Sheriff Dominick J. Mele, who is organizing a write-in effort, on the campaign trail again.Comes said his campaign staff is planning to run an aggressive race, complete with a new campaign headquarters, door-to-door campaigning and a fund-raiser."We're going to campaign as usual," Comes said. "We're going to continue campaigning as we did through the primary. . . . I'll be visible. The (campaign)