National Party

THE DEADLY dance that plays out almost daily between the Israelis and Palestinians is reminiscent of the violence that gripped South Africa a decade ago. But unfortunately, the response of Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat does not bring back memories of Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk. By July 1992, the good feelings that spread through South Africa when Mandela was released from prison slightly more than two years before seemed to have evaporated. In that month, 45 people died in a horrible slaughter in a pitiful squatter camp south of Johannesburg called Boipatong.

The race for the 8th Congressional District seat in Montgomery County is on pace to be one of the most expensive in the nation, with the incumbent and her two challengers having raised more than $1 million each, financial disclosure reports filed yesterday show. While candidates in Baltimore County's 2nd District haven't been able to match those figures, fund raising in that race - which got under way three months ago - has also gotten off to a healthy start, with County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger reporting more than $460,000 in donations, more than twice as much as the leading Republican, former U.S. Rep. Helen Delich Bentley.

National Democratic and Republican leaders have promised to pour money and star power into the race for Maryland's 2nd Congressional District, and judging from a series of fund-raisers scheduled for this month, they mean it. Baltimore County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the leading Democratic contender, is planning an event for June 28 headlined by Rep. Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi of California, the House Democratic whip. She is the daughter and sister of former Baltimore Mayors Thomas A. D'Alesandro Jr. and Thomas A. D'Alesandro III. The event, to be held in the Camden Club at Camden Yards, also will feature nearly the entire Maryland Democratic leadership, including Gov. Parris N. Glendening, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, U.S. Sens.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A surprise split late last week in this country's official opposition could significantly alter regional politics by thrusting the ruling African National Congress into power in a longtime opposition stronghold and giving it nationwide dominance, analysts said this week. The New National Party, the successor to the party responsible for apartheid, said Friday that it was suspending its membership in the Democratic Alliance, the country's main political opposition.

WASHINGTON -- That was one mushy pie in the face that now former Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords inflicted on President Bush in one of the most historic and significant defections ever from a political party. Mr. Jeffords, in his customary mild-mannered fashion, cast his reasons for leaving the GOP to become an independent in terms of disagreements with the party, not just Mr. Bush. But the practical effect of his action is to throw a huge monkey wrench into Mr. Bush's plans to deliver a conservative agenda reminiscent of the Reagan years.

ONCE AGAIN, Britain will demonstrate how to hold an election quickly, on the issues, with spending caps, subsidized television, high turnout and a decisive outcome even with a minority winner. No chads in the United Kingdom. The voter marks a paper ballot for a member of the House of Commons. The ballots are counted in each district after the polls close. That result is official. The leader of the party winning a majority of seats becomes prime minister. It is low-tech and efficient. So Prime Minister Tony Blair -- Clinton Lite to his detractors -- told the country on May 8 there would be an election June 7. There is a catch.

JUNICHIRO Koizumi, the brash reformer, beat the bosses for rank-and-file support to lead the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and become prime minister of Japan. He is an unlikely rebel, a third-generation LDP member of parliament and Cabinet minister. The same may be said of his blunt-speaking foreign minister, Makiko Tanaka, the first woman in the post, the most popular politician in Japan and daughter of a former prime minister and LDP patronage boss. Japan certainly needs economic reforms, bank reforms and drastic reduction in feather-bedded government employment.

MEANWHILE, north of the border, they are still waiting for the absentee ballots from Florida, but doubt they will make a difference. While Canadians were as fascinated as others around the world with the battle for the White House -- more so because of their enforced proximity -- it also was a major distraction because they have another election on their minds. Their own. Tomorrow, Prime Minister Jean Chretien goes before the voters to seek his third consecutive mandate. Like Al Gore's pre-Nov.

BALTIMORE WAS the birthplace of presidential nominating conventions and once reigned as queen city of these quadrennial conclaves, being host to them repeatedly during the 19th century and even once early in the 20th century. Will she ever be able to regain her crown? Not anytime soon, according to those knowledgeable about conventions. It's a question of beds, heads and behinds - or hotel rooms, expected attendance, and convention-hall seating capacity. "We get stopped at the basics right from the start," says Carroll R. Armstrong, president and chief executive officer of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association.

WASHINGTON -- Trouble may be brewing for Pat Buchanan in his drive for the presidential nomination of the Reform Party, with old party members growing increasingly resentful about his tactics in attempting to take control of the party and, they charge, revamp its focus and purpose. An effort at last weekend's California Reform Party convention to tie Mr. Buchanan's hands on the vice-presidential nominee and on the party's agenda, under the threat of disaffiliation from the national party, fell short.