Maryland Democrats

WASHINGTON -- The state's leading congressional Democrats, long celebrated as champions for the Chesapeake Bay, now find themselves the subject of criticism by environmental advocates.Angered activists have singled out Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Southern Maryland as "an attack dog" for his legislative efforts to knock down challenges to the state's decision to dump silt dredged from shipping channels at a site off Kent Island, called Site 104.But conservationists are also becoming increasingly critical of the quiet support given by Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes and Reps.

WASHINGTON -- Two House members from the Washington area proposed legislation yesterday that would allow the stalled overhaul of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to proceed despite a judge's ruling that the federal government had not properly examined the project's impact on the environment or historic sites.At a Capitol Hill news conference, Reps. Albert R. Wynn, a Prince George's County Democrat, and Thomas M. Davis III, a Virginia Republican, argued that continued construction on the project is sorely needed.

Marylanders go to the polls today to choose Democratic and Republican nominees for almost every elective office from the courthouse to the State House in a primary election that is expected to be an important barometer of the mood of the voting public.Despite the large number of races, with as many as 2,442 candidates, only a few are hard-fought. Office-seekers and local analysts fear the lack of attention-grabbing party contests for governor, coupled with fallout from the Clinton scandal, will cause many voters to stay away.

WASHINGTON -- In a stinging rebuke to the Republican leadership, a bipartisan House coalition yesterday passed a sweeping overhaul of the nation's campaign funding laws, sending the bill to the Senate, where it faces an uphill battle.In its final major act before adjourning for its August recess, the House voted 252-179 to pass legislation co-written by Reps. Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican, and Martin T. Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat.Sixty-one Republicans defied their leadership to vote for a bill that would ban "soft money," the unlimited donations to political parties that fueled the fund-raising excesses of the 1996 campaign.

THE DEMOCRATS rocked Nov. 3, pushing Gov. Parris N. Glendening to a remarkable 12-point win over Ellen R. Sauerbrey in spite of himself.A lot of reasons have been given for the GOP's trouncing, but the indisputable key to the Democrats' romp was their ability to turn out the vote.Many bows have been taken -- some deserved and some not -- but the party should trot on stage for a last round of applause for its multilayered drive in the final days of the campaign.Three years ago, more than 200 worried Maryland Democrats met at Hood College in Frederick to reassess the party's mission and message, still smarting from the Republican gains in 1990 and 1994 in county executive and legislative races.

Maryland Democrats, worried that gubernatorial candidate Ellen R. Sauerbrey has been too successful in presenting herself as a moderate Republican, denounced her record on environmental issues yesterday.The Annapolis news conference was the first of three the state party plans to use to examine Sauerbrey's voting record in the House of Delegates, promised Peter Krauser, chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party. State Democrats also will issue "report cards" for her positions on education and gun-control issues over the next eight weeks.

WASHINGTON -- Two top Maryland Democrats who have been political allies for three decades are attracting national attention for their sharply different reactions to the sex scandal that threatens to destroy the Clinton presidency.Neither Rep. Steny H. Hoyer nor Gov. Parris N. Glendening has defended Clinton's acknowledged affair with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky. But Hoyer interrupted his own re-election campaign to accompany the embattled president on a difficult overseas trip, and even publicly upbraided a reporter who raised the scandal at a Moscow news conference.

THERE'S NO DOUBT House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. is running for something.Re-election. Governor. Congress.Congress?In the past few weeks, talk has surfaced among some Democrats -- particularly supporters of Gov. Parris N. Glendening -- about Taylor's running for Congress from Maryland's 6th District against Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, the three-term incumbent.Has the Allegany County Democrat heard the talk about a possible bid next year?"Oh God, yeah," Taylor said. "I've got people urging me to run now, and I've had some people suggest that I run in 2000."

Now that Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin has completed his torturous journey to non-candidacy, Maryland Democrats must endure yet another period of waiting and watching to see if someone else dares to challenge Gov. Parris N. Glendening."

MARYLAND Democrats had better hold their applause. Lurking behind Bill Clinton's landslide in the Free State last week were some disturbing numbers.Yes, Mr. Clinton took Maryland by 272,000 votes. But he lost 15 of 24 subdivisions. Combine Bob Dole's totals with Ross Perot's and after absentee ballots are counted it's likely Mr. Clinton will have won only three subdivisions -- Baltimore City, Prince George's County and Montgomery County.Sound familiar? It looks like a carbon copy of 1992 -- and similar in many respects to 1994.

Gerrymandered map is an abomination Congratulations to both The Baltimore Sun and your fine columnist Jean Marbella on the article dealing with "political cartography" in Maryland ("Political cartography has strange consequences," Nov. 13). I was pleased to see such a complete analysis of the system of outlining congressional districts based on purely political grounds. This practice is not limited to Maryland, or to Democrats or Republicans. As was pointed out in the article, former Rep. Tom DeLay was an active practioner of the art of gerrymandering in Texas, as was Gov. Parris N. Glendening in Maryland.

Just a couple of years ago, when Republican Bob Ehrlich was governor of Maryland and running for re-election, he stood next to Rudy Giuliani at a $2,000-a-plate fundraiser in Baltimore, and the former New York City mayor took questions from reporters. When one brought up Maryland's blue statehood, Ehrlich stepped forward to make a correction. "Light blue," he said, and ha-ha-ha and hee-hee-hee - that Bobby Slots was some funny guy, no? Calling Maryland "light blue," suggesting that Democratic power is thin here, was wishful thinking on Ehrlich's part.

A rift among Maryland's Democrats - with Comptroller Peter Franchot increasingly on the outs - became decidedly more public and bitter yesterday with a tartly worded missive from one of the party's standard-bearers. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Prince George's County Democrat who has held his leadership post in the General Assembly for more than two decades, sent a letter to Franchot, the state's elected chief fiscal officer, excoriating him for his "obsession with the press" and "disregard for the relationships you need to be an effective leader."

DENVER - Maryland Democrats cheered yesterday a presidential ticket that will include a senator from neighboring Delaware with family ties to Baltimore, saying Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s knowledge of Chesapeake Bay troubles could spark sorely needed protections. Gov. Martin O'Malley predicted that Biden would become a "critical ally" on the environment if elected, and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said the senator has a "keen understanding" of the Chesapeake's needs because he is "from a border state and comes every day through Maryland" during his commute to Washington.

When Gov. Martin O'Malley endorsed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary nearly a year ago, he was throwing his support behind the presumptive front-runner and building on a long-standing relationship with her and her husband's political machine. Moreover, the risk seemed small. Three years earlier, O'Malley had backed Howard Dean, who dropped out of the race, and still landed a coveted speaking role at the Democratic National Convention. But in recent weeks the dynamics of this year's presidential primaries have changed.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin's telephone began ringing months ago. On the line: representatives of the Democratic presidential contenders soliciting advice on Maryland politics, asking about lessons learned from his 2006 Senate race or just checking in again to gauge his latest thoughts on the campaign. But the callers are after more than his wisdom. As a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention, Cardin will not be bound by the results of next month's Maryland primary election when he casts his vote in Denver this summer, but may back whichever candidate he chooses.

When Arthur Bremer walked out of a Maryland prison earlier this month, it was a history lesson in more ways than one. It was, foremost, a reminder of an unusually violent period in late 20th-century American politics. Lost in the news of Bremer's release was another story, which may come as a surprise to many Marylanders. It was about Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace's other campaign stops in the state, before Bremer shot him in the Laurel Shopping Center. In Hagerstown, police were called in after protesters disrupted his speech.

Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lierman said last night he is resigning to become chief of staff to House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer. He is leaving after 2 1/2 years and at a high point, having shepherded the Democrats to victory in last year's contentious U.S. Senate and gubernatorial contests. "We took back our state is what we did," said Lierman, 59. "And now I want to have a role in helping take back our nation." On Lierman's watch, Martin O'Malley defeated Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., and then-U.

Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was in a virtual tie with his Democratic challenger, Mayor Martin O'Malley of Baltimore. And Republican Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele was gaining on Democratic Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin. All the political chatter in those days was about an impending phenomenon: the Republicans, Mr. Ehrlich and Mr. Steele, bucking the national trend. How was such a thing possible? It was possible, of course, but it didn't happen. Why? Here's a theory. In the case of Mr. Ehrlich, the power of incumbency was enough to blunt the force of opposition to the war. That, combined with Mr. Ehrlich's personal popularity, kept the race close.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. had hoped his election as Maryland's first Republican chief executive in decades was the start of a historic realignment toward true two-party rule. In his few post-election comments, Ehrlich said the state has indeed shifted - but away from his party. His tenure, he suggested, was a blip, and his defeat all but inevitable in a state accustomed to one-party government. "It's clear in Maryland that there is a direction people are more comfortable with," Ehrlich said on WBAL-AM last week.