Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

An article in yesterday's editions of The Sun about Democratic candidates courting sportsmen quoted Rich Novotny, executive director of the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen's Association, at a rally for gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Novotny and MSSA president Bruno Vasta were at the Cecil County event as individuals, not in their official capacity. The association does not endorse candidates for governor, as was explained in another article this week.

With five days left until Maryland voters choose their next governor, Democratic candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend spent yesterday traveling the Washington suburbs with a lineup bound to excite the party faithful: former Vice President Al Gore, Martin Luther King III and Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a k a Uncle Teddy. She grabbed endorsements from a room filled with African-American ministers who promised to preach her name from pulpits across the state Sunday. She headlined an enthusiastic get-out-the-vote rally at Bowie State University.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend arrived in Annapolis in 1984 as a young lawyer working for the House Appropriations Committee, and promptly broke the rules. Townsend was trying to persuade the state to yank its investments from corporations operating in South Africa. She had traveled to Johannesburg a few months before taking the job, forming strong views she couldn't keep to herself. "The appropriations committee members were discussing it, and there was a legislator who I thought said something inappropriate and dumb," Townsend recalled recently.

After providing financial help to her campaign, Maryland's influential doctors' association has determined that Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend does not support its top issues and yesterday mailed a scorecard to 10,000 health professionals indicating Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is the preferable candidate. The mailing by MedChi, the state medical society, says Townsend has refused to commit to maintaining caps on legal awards for pain and suffering, as contained in existing state tort reform law. It also says that Townsend supports allowing nurse practitioners to serve as primary care providers in health maintenance organizations, a position opposed by MedChi.

Clarification An article in yesterday's editions of The Sun about Democratic candidates courting sportsmen quoted Rich Novotny, executive director of the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen's Association, at a rally for gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Novotny and MSSA president Bruno Vasta were at the Cecil County event as individuals, not in their official capacity. The association does not endorse candidates for governor, as was explained in another article this week.

Vowing to go after "gun bangers," Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.pledged yesterday to strictly enforce the state's gun laws and work with federal prosecutors to ensure that felons who carry guns go to prison for at least five years with no chance for parole. "When I am elected governor, the word goes out to criminals," Ehrlich said while standing on the steps of the Eastern District police headquarters in Baltimore surrounded by police and state's attorneys. "Modify your behavior, don't carry a gun on the street because the rules have changed in Baltimore and in the state."

In the race for Maryland Senate in the Towson-based 42nd District, the Republican is burnishing her credentials as an outsider and the Democrat emphasizing his ability to work within Annapolis' power structure to advocate for his constituents. That's hardly unusual in Maryland, where Democrats rule the legislature. What's strange is that in this district the Republican is the 20-year Annapolis veteran, and the Democrat is the one running for office for the first time. Del. Martha S. Klima, the Republican, has represented much of the district since 1983.

Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend began airing a TV ad last week that seeks to counter criticism from Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. that the Glendening-Townsend administration had failed to perform some criminal-background checks on gun buyers. It is airing in the Baltimore and Washington markets. What the ad says: It opens with an image from an Ehrlich commercial, and shows a newspaper headline reading "Ehrlich Assails Rival on Gun Issue." "Now Bob Ehrlich is trying to blame crime and gun violence in Maryland on Kathleen Kennedy Townsend," an announcer says.

If Kathleen Kennedy Townsend wins next week's election, she would become Maryland's first female governor, and the first lieutenant governor to succeed his or her boss in modern state history. She'd also become the first Kennedy woman elected in her own right. But that "if" looms larger now than ever before. A half-year ago, a Townsend victory seemed practically inevitable. With near-universal name recognition, no significant primary opposition and millions in the bank, she was cruising to what some observers were calling a coronation.

The last of a parade of models had sashayed down the runway in "Style and Substance," a recent fund-raising fashion show and dinner for gubernatorial candidate Robert Ehrlich. The guests buzzed with anticipation. The lights grew dim. The loudspeaker thundered with the sound of Tina Turner's "You're Simply the Best." From the corner of the catwalk came the show's grand finale, Ehrlich and his wife, Kendel -- modeling what the emcee called "very sexy Republican clothes." Ehrlich wore a three-piece tuxedo, Kendel a floor-length white evening gown.