Incumbents

In the first of six City Council candidates' debates this month, three women incumbents faced six male challengers in a forum that centered on arresting flight from the city and improving 5th District neighborhoods across Northwest Baltimore.The forum Wednesday night at the Forest Park Senior Citizen Center attracted about 60 people to listen to nine candidates exchange views on schools, crime, city revenue, billboards and blight.Running for the three seats are seven Democrats and two Republicans.

Bea Gaddy, an advocate for the homeless who feeds thousands each year at her Thanksgiving dinner, won her bid last night for a seat on the City Council.She will be joined by three other newcomers: Lisa Stancil, an attorney, and Kenneth Harris, a motivational speaker, who both won in Northeast Baltimore's 3rd District, and Catherine E. Pugh, a public relations consultant from the north-central 4th District.The four new council members will fill seats vacated by Democratic mayoral nominee Martin O'Malley; Sheila Dixon, the Democratic City Council president nominee, and retiring members Robert L. Douglass and Rita R. Church.

A special convention of the Maryland State Teachers Association has endorsed Gov. Parris N. Glendening and a slate of other incumbents.About 98 percent of the 300 delegates who attended the organization's representative assembly at the Baltimore Hilton on Saturday also recommended to its 48,000 members Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein, Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., and U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski."

INCUMBENCY CAN be a potent election asset. Just look at the 42nd Legislative District.In the four years since that northwestern city district was reconstituted to include parts of Baltimore County, Democratic delegates Samuel I. Sandy Rosenberg, James W. Campbell and Maggie McIntosh have so solidified their position they have no primary opposition. They have done a good job, too.So has Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman, by and large. A three-term veteran, the head of the powerful Budget and Taxation Committee deserves another term, despite showing poor judgment in sponsoring an administrator who is now under indictment in a city liquor board scandal.

IN THE 7th District, which covers the Rosedale and Dundalk areas, Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr. faces a weak opponent in liquor store owner Anthony J. Narutowicz. Mr. Stone, who has held his seat since 1967, is not a leader in Annapolis; we would like to see him wield greater influence. But he is decent and a good constituent servant and deserves the Democratic nomination. That would effectively give him the seat again because no Republican is running.For three House seats, Republican and Democratic voters will each choose three candidates.

In her steep uphill campaign to unseat the governor, Democrat Eileen M. Rehrmann needed three things -- a little luck, a lot of money and an issue to call her own.When she abruptly quit Monday, she had none.With the Maryland economy thriving and the state government seemingly in good shape, Rehrmann found herself campaigning in an environment hospitable to incumbents -- not little-known challengers.Big financial contributors, meanwhile, were reluctant to help her campaign unless she could show progress in the polls -- something the two-term Harford County executive struggled to do.And she never found a cause to rally the voters.

WASHINGTON -- To the victors go the spoils. To the incumbent lawmakers go campaign donations -- and lots of them. A review of the most recent campaign records filed by Marylanders running for the House and Senate shows that incumbents are far outstripping their challengers in raising money for their re-election bids.Even in the two contests where the challengers are regarded by party officials as most formidable -- in Maryland's 5th and 8th districts -- incumbents are sitting on campaign funds that dwarf those of their opponents.

At first glance, the Baltimore County Council's two most experienced politicians -- both Democrats -- would appear to be formidable targets for the pair of novice Republicans trying to unseat them.In the 5th District, Perry Hall Democrat Vincent J. Gardina has two terms behind him, a healthy campaign treasury and bragging rights for everything from the demolition of the Riverdale apartments to tighter regulations of tattoos.Likewise, 6th District incumbent Joseph Bartenfelder of Fullerton -- a former three-term state delegate and a farmer with deep roots in the northeastern county -- expects to retain his seat.

Baltimore voters were giving overwhelming support last night to proposals to allow the city to borrow $45 million for projects that include encouraging home ownership, renovating several schools and developing a regional library.With about a sixth of the 325 precincts reporting, 10 separate bond issues were winning approval by margins ranging from 13-to-1 to 3-to-1.Incumbents, all Democrats, were also heading for easy victories in the only six State House seats -- three in the Senate and three in the House -- being contested in legislative districts solely or predominantly in the city.

SERIOUS threats to members of Congress up for re-electio are few and far between nationally. The Maryland delegation is no exception. A strong economy -- good for incumbents -- and the huge sums of money required to mount an effective campaign have dampened challenges this election. Here are our endorsements for districts in the Baltimore area and beyond:Gilchrest for the 1stRep. Wayne T. Gilchrest has been a pragmatic lawmaker who does a good job representing the interests of his district and Maryland.

Endangered Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil increased his campaign funding advantage over state Sen. Andy Harris, his potential Republican opponent, during the past three months. Kratovil's fundraising performance is in line with other potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents nationwide this year, according to a new study by a nonpartisan watchdog group. The latest Federal Election Commission disclosure reports show that Kratovil, a freshman congressman who represents the Eastern Shore and parts of several Western Shore counties, had $691,000 in the bank as of Sept.

One of the challengers calls Mayor Sheila Dixon "queen for a day." It's a not-so-sly reference to the fact that Ms. Dixon became mayor not by a vote of the people but by succeeding Gov. Martin O'Malley. A more formal evocation of the tactic, used by most of the other challengers, is to call her "the interim mayor," as if the voters are just waiting to send her into retirement. City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, who succeeded Ms. Dixon, hears "interim" tacked to the front of her title as well.

The vigorous crusade by three newcomers who put up numerous signs and went door to door in the 4,500-resident town in South Carroll helped them oust three incumbents who ran a lackluster campaign for seats on Sykesville's Town Council, Mayor Jonathan Herman said yesterday. Pharmaceutical representative Frank Robert, accountant Scott D. Sanzone and attorney and real estate agent Leo J. Keenan III defeated Council President Mark Rychwalski and incumbents Russ Vreeland and Jim Kelley in Tuesday's municipal election.

Thirteen candidates for six seats on the Harford County Council are expounding on growth, education, crime and transportation, hoping their ideas catch on with voters. Incumbents and newcomers, including Harford's first Green Party candidate, all vow to work to win right up to the Nov. 7 election. "I am still working to convince one voter at a time," said Mary Ann Lisanti, a Democrat running in District F. "I am still waving at intersections, knocking on doors and sitting down with people in their living rooms."

Democratic Rep. Albert R. Wynn, running in one of Maryland's most competitive congressional races against a candidate he once hired as a summer clerk, took an early lead in last night's primary, but the race was too close to call. Wynn, first elected to the 4th District in suburban Washington in 1992, faced Donna Edwards, a former foundation executive whom Wynn hired when she was in law school two decades ago and who ran a spirited campaign that called the incumbent's voting record and ethics into question.

Sprawl and all its associated issues - from education to transportation to the environment - are, as always, on the minds of Howard County's voters. District 9A: It's hard to call a pair of incumbents entrenched if one was appointed to his seat only in 2003, but an upstart candidate with no discernible political background is threatening to upset the GOP apple cart in this sprawling district that spreads from Ellicott City to Lisbon. The loner is Melissa Ridgely Covolesky, a former military police officer and a mentor at a residence for homeless teenage mothers.

Nearly two decades ago, attorney Albert R. Wynn hired a law school student as his clerk for a summer. The aide, Donna Edwards, went on to volunteer in one of Wynn's early congressional campaigns, working at a precinct and passing out literature. "I really supported him when he first ran," said Edwards, 48, a Fort Washington Democrat. "It's just been in recent years that I've been really, really disappointed." So disappointed that the civic activist and former foundation executive is challenging Wynn, the U.S. representative from Maryland's 4th District.

It's no secret that Maryland Democrats want party unity in their bid to retake the governor's mansion. But marshaling a unified effort isn't always easy. It often means eliminating Democratic competition in primary elections for General Assembly seats and steering unchallenged incumbents' resources to the top-ticket candidate. How that gets done can be a critical yet often ugly element of politics. And one that rarely plays out in public. But in South Baltimore's 46th District, Sen. George W. Della Jr. has employed tough tactics to try to prevent and curtail costly primary and general election challenges for himself and his three incumbent House of Delegates colleagues.

Columbians elected two new representatives yesterday to open seats on the Columbia Council, the 10-member advisory panel for the Howard County planned community. In both races, the incumbents - Wolfger Schneider of Harper's Choice and Joshua Feldmark of Wilde Lake - chose not to run for re-election. Cynthia Coyle defeated David Willemain for the Harper's Choice council seat by a vote of 264-126. In Wilde Lake, Philip Kirsch defeated William Santos by a vote of 200-166. Incumbents Miles Coffman of Hickory Ridge, Barbara L. Russell of Oakland Mills and Pearl Atkinson-Stewart of Owen Brown ran unopposed for re-election.

Charismatic businessman S. Fred Simmons defeated incumbent Douglas S. Wilson last night to become mayor of Aberdeen, ending a contentious campaign that saw a throng of candidates vying to lead the growing military outpost. Simmons, 53, who launched his campaign early with signs asking "Who is Fred Simmons?" was elected to the town's top post as voters also shook up the City Council, removing two of four incumbents, and struck down a referendum that would have granted police binding arbitration in collective bargaining.