Gop Candidates

Maryland's primary is now just two weeks away (with early voting starting this Saturday) and - surprise - ballots cast here might even be relevant to the presidential selection process. On Wednesday, Mitt Romney is scheduled to be the first of the Republican candidates to traipse into the Old Line State to state his case for taking home 37 delegates in the winner-take-all event with appearances at theU.S. Naval Academy and in Arbutus and Frederick. For a state dominated by Democrats, this is a rarity that GOP voters should savor.

Three months ago, everyone assumed Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett would retire. Now, with just days to go before Tuesday's primary, the 85-year-old former scientist is poised to capture the GOP nomination in Maryland's 6th District for the 11th time. The race for the seat, which covers Western Maryland and parts of Montgomery and Frederick counties, is among the most closely watched in the country this year. The Buckeystown Republican is running against seven other GOP candidates, including two state lawmakers — Sen. David R. Brinkley and Del. Kathy Afzali — and several businessmen.

After being bombarded with news of Third World problems for so long, I figured it was time to give a bit of equal time to First World suffering. Every so often I reach a boiling point with modern Western culture and feel the need to rant -- so I'm going to bleed it out through my fingertips, as Ernest Hemingway used to say of writing, before my brain explodes from the pressure. -- After years of not owning a television, I finally broke down and bought one in November, thinking that maybe it was time to stop being a misanthropic weirdo.

In response to the March 15 column, "Contraceptive isn't bad, no matter what GOP candidates tell," the writer probably meant "mandate," not "contraceptive. " GOP candidates don't like federal mandates that infringe on the religious freedom for which the United States was founded. I am proud to live in a country where people are free to worship as they choose, dress and display symbols according to religious beliefs, and not forced to defy religious beliefs such as not working on the Sabbath.

In response to the March 15 column, "Contraceptive isn't bad, no matter what GOP candidates tell," the writer probably meant "mandate," not "contraceptive. " GOP candidates don't like federal mandates that infringe on the religious freedom for which the United States was founded. I am proud to live in a country where people are free to worship as they choose, dress and display symbols according to religious beliefs, and not forced to defy religious beliefs such as not working on the Sabbath.

I remember back in the day when conversations about sex were whispered and babies were born by immaculate conception. All three of my children were. Just ask my mother. But actually I was a lucky ducky, and when I asked her where babies came from, she didn't give me the hooey other mothers in the neighborhood gave their kids. She sat me down and drew a diagram of a male organ, female uterus and birth canal. I was 7. I just wanted to know if what Sylvia, who was 8, had told me was true.

Calling the Baltimore County Council's efforts to reform its own pensions "very anemic," Republican candidates for county offices pledged Monday to rein in elected officials' benefits if voters elect enough of them to office Nov. 2. Public anger about county pension benefits erupted last year when Councilman Vincent J. Gardina announced he would retire in 2010, after 20 years in the council, with a pension equal to 100 percent of his $54,000 annual...

Two men are hoping to snap the 16-year Democratic reign in the Baltimore County Council's District 6 that began when Joseph Bartenfelder unseated incumbent William A. Howard IV, and both candidates are stressing Republican themes of cutting spending, reducing taxes, making government more efficient and making the county more inviting for new business. District 6 stretches roughly from the Northeast Baltimore line to the Chesapeake Bay, and includes Putty Hill, Middle River and White Marsh.

WASHINGTON -- The leading Republican presidential candidates fervently wooed members of the increasingly powerful religious right yesterday. But it was a noncandidate -- Newt Gingrich -- who drew the most enthusiastic reception.Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, continuing his courting of conservative activists, was warmly received by members of the Christian Coalition at their annual meeting here. He welcomed their growing political clout and vowed to defend them against what he predicted would be a wave of persecution from Democrats in next year's campaign.

In the best tradition of the free-swinging political battles in the district known as the Fighting First, the three GOP City Council candidates are not only taking roundhouse punches at their Democratic opponents, they are also throwing jabs at one another.During a recent candidates' forum in northeast Baltimore, for example, Leo Wayne Dymowski, like his two GOP colleagues Joseph DiPasquale and James H. Styles Jr., wasted no time taking dead aim against the Democrats."If you support wasteful government spending, if you support runaway crime, if you support inadequate schools, then vote for the three Democrats because they support Mayor Kurt Schmoke and council President Mary Pat Clarke, the ones who have given you this mess," bellowed Dymowski.

After being bombarded with news of Third World problems for so long, I figured it was time to give a bit of equal time to First World suffering. Every so often I reach a boiling point with modern Western culture and feel the need to rant -- so I'm going to bleed it out through my fingertips, as Ernest Hemingway used to say of writing, before my brain explodes from the pressure. -- After years of not owning a television, I finally broke down and bought one in November, thinking that maybe it was time to stop being a misanthropic weirdo.

A political action committee supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will spend $464,000 on television advertising in Maryland, the first instance of a major third-party television buy in the state and the first ads supporting any candidate in the race for the GOP nomination.Restore Our Future PAC spokeswoman Brittany Gross said the ad will appear statewide in Maryland. The ad, titled "Values," has run in other states and criticizes former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum for his voting record in Congress, including to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

Maryland's primary is now just two weeks away (with early voting starting this Saturday) and - surprise - ballots cast here might even be relevant to the presidential selection process. On Wednesday, Mitt Romney is scheduled to be the first of the Republican candidates to traipse into the Old Line State to state his case for taking home 37 delegates in the winner-take-all event with appearances at theU.S. Naval Academy and in Arbutus and Frederick. For a state dominated by Democrats, this is a rarity that GOP voters should savor.

I remember back in the day when conversations about sex were whispered and babies were born by immaculate conception. All three of my children were. Just ask my mother. But actually I was a lucky ducky, and when I asked her where babies came from, she didn't give me the hooey other mothers in the neighborhood gave their kids. She sat me down and drew a diagram of a male organ, female uterus and birth canal. I was 7. I just wanted to know if what Sylvia, who was 8, had told me was true.

Democrats must believe they are in the middle of a lovely dream - and they must hope they never wake up. Not even the most conniving strategist in the belly of the White House could have spun this narrative: drop a packet of birth control pills into the middle of the Republican extreme-a-thon primary season and watch as the candidates attempt to alienate half of the voting population. This isn't the "war against women" we expected when Republican state legislatures began to nibble away at reproductive decision-making and then over-reached with "personhood" language and the hideous requirement that women submit to vaginal sonograms before an abortion.

One can hardly blame Mitt Romney and his supporters for suggesting that it's time for his GOP opponents to step aside. Although his victories on Super Tuesday were not as decisive as he might have liked, with about half the delegates committed so far the former Massachusetts governor remains very, very tough to beat for the Republican nomination. He may not set tea party hearts aflutter, but cold, hard numbers remain on Mr. Romney's side even if, as expected, he continues to face losses in some states ahead.

Twenty-two GOP candidates, ranging from county to statewide hopefuls, promised the Anne Arundel Taxpayers Association to oppose any attempt to overturn the county's property tax cap or increase the piggyback tax, the amount of income tax the county collects.The candidates, including John G. Gary, the association's choice for county executive, signed an anti-tax pledge for the group during a ceremony in front of the State House in Annapolis."This campaign . . . is about how you want your money spent over the next four years," said Mr. Gary, who is running against Democrat Theodore J. Sophocleus.

Several Republican candidates have begun to chip away at U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes' commanding lead in the Maryland Senate race, but they still remain unknown to most voters, according to a poll released yesterday.The poll found the three major Republican challengers narrowing the lead of Mr. Sarbanes, a Democrat, in the last month by anywhere from 6 to 12 percentage points.The poll was conducted July 15 to July 17 by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research in Columbia for The Sun and other news media organizations.

In Iowan Meredith Willson's "The Music Man," Marian, the River City librarian, spends a lot of time looking for love, while pretending not to. In the end she does, in fact, find it, with a huckster - a man who may be slightly less than sincere. We naturally, and naively, assume it all works out for her, that her choice was sound, that her life will be perfect. A variation on a similar theme plays out quadrennially here in Iowa, where we have the enviable task of being the first in the nation to express our preferences for presidential candidates.

"I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though some time back they may have entered illegally. " That was Ronald Reagan speaking during his 1984 reelection campaign. After that election, he stuck to his guns, signing an immigration reform law that allowed illegal immigrants to apply for residency if they could prove they'd lived in the country for five years, held jobs and committed no crimes. The law also called for tougher border enforcement, but its primary effect was to provide 3 million people with a path to legalization, and many eventually became citizens.