Governor S Race

Three months after announcing his candidacy for governor, former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. made it official Friday when he and newly chosen running mate Mary Kane filed paperwork with the Maryland State Board of Elections. "I feel really great about it," Ehrlich said afterward. He and Kane spent the morning as guests on Washington-area television and radio news programs. They have 10 parade appearances scheduled during the Fourth of July weekend, Ehrlich said.

Penn Station's man/woman sculpture needed to finally shift weight as his/her legs were killing him/her. The cap on the gulf oil well left the rest of the country feeling bloated. The obesity epidemic really is getting out of hand. U.S. Department of Treasury IOU landslide. Senate passage of Wall Street reforms resulted in a sudden drop in CEO bonuses. Either Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. or Martin O'Malley said something nice about his opponent in the governor's race.

They spent months debating an expected spike in electricity bills, trading barbs over who was to blame and hatching plans to blunt the consumer impact of higher energy costs. But a new Sun poll suggests that it might be the politicians who will pay the price for higher rates. Months after a proposed 72 percent rate increase for Baltimore Gas and Electric customers became a dominant political topic, Marylanders named the cost of energy as the third-most-important challenge facing the state today, behind education and the economy.

In what one candidate calls "a struggle for the soul of Maryland," voters today were deciding a too-close-to-call governor's race that could spin the state into a political U-turn.A reputedly restive electorate also was choosing between continuity and change in numerous other contests, including those for state attorney general, comptroller, eight congressional seats and U.S. senator.Political professionals say that a modest turnout would favor the Republican candidate in the governor's race, Ellen R. Sauerbrey.

Standing before about 2,000 partisans at the Baltimore Convention Center Thursday night, Parris N. Glendening expressed his thanks to a crowd that had plunked down as much as $500 each to swell his already overflowing campaign coffers by an estimated half million dollars.On Friday night, the Democratic candidate for governor was at it again. This time the setting was more intimate: La Colline, a chic Washington restaurant favored by Capitol Hill lobbyists. Cocktails, dinner and face time with the candidate, $1,000 a person.

As the 2002 election draws closer and other potential candidates fade away, the buzz is increasing about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley pondering a run for governor. Some of the mayor's advisers say his chances for political advancement might never be greater. There is no incumbent in the race because Gov. Parris N. Glendening is prevented from seeking re-election. Detractors of Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the leader in early polls, say O'Malley is the last best Democratic hope to stop an accelerating juggernaut.

As Marylanders wait to hear whether the rumors are true of a potential bid by Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to recapture the governor's office he lost four years ago, a report released in recent weeks by the Center for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland, College Park, provides a detailed snapshot of the fundraising results from the epic 2006 governor's race Mr. Ehrlich lost to then-Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley. The big story that jumps out from the report, co-written by David Searle, James Curry and CAPC director Paul Herrnson, is the sheer magnitude of the sums raised and spent by the two party tickets.

With pride on this Thanksgiving Day. . . .With great heapings of thanks for all blessings. . . .And with, let's be honest about this, more than a little sarcasm. . . .This column hereby presents its 18th annual collection of things for which Baltimoreans should give thanks.Thus, without further ado, dear friends:Be thankful if Dr. Neil Solomon finally understands the phrase: "Physician, heal thyself."Be thankful Mayor Schmoke only got shoved by that 13-year old whose fight he broke up. Sure, the kid's behavior was appalling.

I have never voted anything but Democratic but now I will only vote for a candidate that is against illegal immigration.This governor's race I will vote for former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Governor Martin O'Malley has declared Maryland a "sanctuary" state. He supports items such as in state tuition for illegals at the same time state workers are being furloughed and fired.State funds(and local) are going to subcontractors who use immigrants when our own people are desperate and losing their homes.

One year before the 2006 statewide election, Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. trails his two chief rivals, with many voters approving the incumbent's job performance but signaling a desire to return the state to its traditional Democratic roots. Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley leads Ehrlich by 15 percentage points, 48 percent to 33 percent, according to a poll conducted for The Sun by the independent, nonpartisan firm Potomac Inc. Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan has a 5 percentage point lead on the governor but has gained little ground on the mayor in the weeks after the two Democrats' formal entry into the governor's race.