County Republicans

Howard County Republicans unanimously chose Gail H. Bates for appointment to a vacant seat in the Maryland House of Delegates last night, but the insurgent campaign of 28-year-old conservative Anthony C. Wisniewski has thrown the process into disarray. Although Montgomery County contains just a sliver of District 14B - and none will remain after redistricting - Wisniewski won a majority of the Montgomery County Republicans to his side at a Tuesday night meeting, creating a split between Republicans in the two counties.

Baltimore County Republicans have picked four finalists to fill Towson's seat in the House of Delegates, left vacant in August when Del. James M. Kelly took a job with the Bush administration. Kelly's wife, Melissa, now holds the seat, but county Republicans plan for her to resign and be replaced for next year's legislative session by someone they choose after soliciting applications, reviewing resumes and conducting interviews. The finalists are Corinne D. Becker, 41, a county government employee and community activist, and three lawyers: Edwin S. MacVaugh, 46, who ran against Kelly in the 1994 primary; Emil B. Pielke, 59, who has worked on many Republican campaigns; and Francis A. Pommett III, 32, who moved to Essex to run for the House of Delegates four years ago and moved back to Towson after he learned of the vacant seat.

As the cost of political campaigns spirals ever higher, the tab for running in Howard County - one of Maryland's wealthiest - seems dirt cheap. These days, raising huge sums early is the trend - and as politically intimidating as playing football against middle linebacker Ray Lewis. But while undeclared gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has raised $4.4 million, Howard County Executive James N. Robey is plotting his re-election campaign after raising $37,500. He's got $26,000 in cash on hand.

MARYLAND HAS come a long way in the past few years in its handling of campaign finance reporting. It wasn't long ago that a member of the public - or a curious reporter - had to plow through stacks of paper at the state election board's musty offices in the old armory building to find out how candidates were raising campaign funds. Now, at least some Maryland candidates' accounts are available on the Internet - at www.elections.state.md.us/. But having that information so readily accessible only points up longstanding problems in state election laws.

WASHINGTON - George W. Bush's lead over Al Gore in Florida dwindled to 229 votes last night, while any chance for a speedy outcome of the presidential election all but vanished. As a sudden war of words exploded between the two sides, Gore's campaign announced that it would support legal challenges over the conduct of the election in Florida, clouding the prospects for a quick verdict in that pivotal state. While relations between the campaigns turned openly rancorous, Florida election officials failed to meet an unofficial deadline to complete a recount by last night.

THREE YEARS before Maryland's election for governor, Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is looking more closely at jumping into the race.The third-term Republican from Baltimore County served in the General Assembly for eight years before going to Washington and would enjoy a return to Annapolis.In the past six months, Ehrlich, 41, has begun to conclude that the 2002 election might well give him the chance to do that."It's an option that we're taking more seriously than before," Ehrlich says of a run for governor.

As he listened to the noisy banter of 200 Baltimore County Republicans gathered at his Fullerton fund-raiser, Allen Thompson, a political newcomer running for the 5th District council seat, couldn't help but be pleased.True, U.S. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. couldn't attend, but the congressman's wife, Kendel, told the crowd he was "off doing God's work -- defining the word 'is' " -- a not-so-subtle reference to President Clinton's grand jury testimony.With a Democratic president on the defensive and native daughter Ellen R. Sauerbrey running hard for the governor's job, county Republicans hope to add seats on the County Council and in the legislature, solidifying the gains made in recent years.

A BLANK SPACE. That's what some Republican Party leaders preferred to leave on the GOP ballot for Baltimore County executive. Don't field a candidate, they warned. It will "rile up Dutch," meaning C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the Democratic incumbent. It "could harm Ellen," meaning Ellen R. Sauerbrey, the Republican front-runner who must do well in her home county to unseat Gov. Parris N. Glendening in November.John J. Bishop, a Parkville mortgage broker and state delegate from 1986-1994, isn't that cynical.

THIS IS A tough primary election for Howard County Republicans. With many good candidates, it's hard to choose. That's a far cry from years ago. Longtime party members recall when they would stand around the Board of Elections on filing day trying to decide at the last minute who would run for what. There were too few of them to seek every office.Democrats still constitute a majority in Howard, but the number of registered Republicans has grown. And many conservative Democrats vote Republican.

The campaign for Carroll County sheriff pits incumbent John H. Brown against challenger Kenneth L. Tregoning in the Republican primary, in a replay of personalities and issues mirroring the 1994 race.About the only thing that's changed in the past four years is Tregoning's party affiliation. He's been a Republican for about two years. As a Democratic newcomer to politics in 1994, Tregoning lost by about 2,300 votes to the sheriff.The party switch makes Tregoning, a state police lieutenant, an opportunist trying to win the votes of the county's Republicans, Brown said.