Candidates

It's called political fund raising, but the show might be called "Scramble for Dollars," featuring local candidates, lobbyists, special interests and a few political unknowns hoping to become known.Anyone who's attended any of the iced tea and chicken wing receptions this month knows this.One thing is certain: Their races for the county executive, County Council, the General Assembly and other local offices won't be cheap.Four years ago, Democratic incumbent M. Elizabeth Bobo spent on her county executive campaign compared with the $82,961 spent by challenger, Charles I. Ecker, a Republican who won the county executive post.

For someone who has never run for public office, Jackie Scott apparently knows how to make an impression on the local electorate. This week, the Howard County school board candidate from Columbia picked up an endorsement from the Howard County Education Association, her second of the campaign. She was recently endorsed by the African American Coalition of Howard County. Also receiving endorsements from both groups was first-time candidate Ann De Lacy, the former HCEA president.

fleming Four first-time candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination for Baltimore County Council in the southwestern District 1, an older suburb of many quaint main streets that also faces the challenge of drawing new businesses to areas that are showing their age. Hoping to succeed 16-year council member Samuel Moxley, who declined to seek re-election, are Brian Bailey, a health policy manager for a national medical association, caterer...

The state election board yesterday approved giving matching funds to three gubernatorial candidates who applied for public money to help finance their primary campaigns.Marvin L. Meyn, deputy administrator of the state election board, said he submitted vouchers to the comptroller's office for more than $250,000 to be dispensed to the three candidates -- House Minority Leader Ellen R. Sauerbrey, state Sen. Mary H. Boergers and state Sen. American Joe Miedusiewski."The auditors will do a more thorough review, but based on the information submitted, we saw no reason not to request vouchers for what was requested by each candidate's committee," Mr. Meyn said.

A non-partisan political organization has established a data base and a toll-free number to aid voters who have questions about presidential, congressional and gubernatorial candidates.The information is available through the Center for National Independence in Politics, a non-profit group that provides voters with information about how political candidates stand on a variety of issues.The center's data bank includes biographical information, campaign financing data, voting records and evaluations of candidates made by special interest groups ranging from the National Rifle Association to the American Civil Liberties Union.

WASHINGTON -- Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder had no sooner quit the Democratic presidential race than other candidates began courting his supporters in Maryland, seeking an edge in what appears to be a wide-open race.Several candidates claim they will benefit from Mr. Wilder's abrupt exit Wednesday. Some political experts, like pollster J. Bradford Coker, say Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton now is the clear front-runner in Maryland, whose primary is March 3.But a number of black leaders caution that black voters aren't likely to vote as a bloc and have yet to familiarize themselves with the candidates.

This year's heated election has made candidates so hot under the collar that some have decided to cool their heels inside their air-conditioned offices -- at least until Baltimore's record breaking heat wave subsides.Candidates are curtailing their door-to-door election pitches -- a baby-kissing, pressing-the-flesh, pavement-pounding staple that most candidates do to amass votes this time of the year. Not even the candidates feel they can win in a race against the weather."It's just been too hot. I'm going to give everybody the day off," said Lawrence A. Bell III, the 4th District councilman running for City Council president.

LET THE GAMES begin. With the Carroll County primary over, there's bound to be a mad scramble of politicking in the next six weeks until the general election Nov. 3.While the Republican nominees are confident, in a county with a strong plurality of registered Republicans, they still face challenges from well-known political figures on the Democratic side.November's election should be less of a straight-party-ballot affair than in 1994, when Del. Richard N. Dixon was the only Democratic victor in Carroll.

WASHINGTON - There was a time when presidents seeking re-election adopted a strategy of staying home and above the political fray, seldom even acknowledging their opposition, and certainly not by name or inference. No more. With about eight months to go before the 2004 election, President Bush has jumped with both feet into the race, hammering Sen. John Kerry on the stump and in hard-hitting television commercials. His decision to do so suggests a new urgency among his strategists to throw Mr. Kerry on the defensive, possibly at the risk of diminishing somewhat his own greatest advantage - his incumbency and stature as the national leader too engaged running the country to "stoop" to partisan politics.