Party Line

WASHINGTON -- Reaction to President Bush's latest Iraq war speech was mixed yesterday, with Democrats largely scorning his remarks and Republicans voicing optimism that it signaled a shift toward a more informed discussion of the road ahead. But fewer Republicans appeared to go out of their way to talk about Bush's appearance at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. Among those notably silent: one of two Republican congressmen from Maryland, where antiwar sentiment is running high. Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest did not respond to repeated requests to his office for comment.

Parris finally got to party.Denied a victory celebration on Election Day, Parris N. Glendening whooped it up last night with 2,000 friends and political supporters at a pre-inaugural bash at Camden Yards. And the governor-elect made the most of it, shaking hands for 90 minutes straight and posing for innumerable photos.After a long and strange drama involving absentee ballots and a court challenge by his opponent, Ellen R. Sauerbrey, Mr. Glendening was finally feeling like the governor-elect.

Annette Booth pushed her thin frame against the spiked gate around the Maryland Penitentiary, screaming greetings at the light that through yonder window breaks.But this isn't Romeo and Juliet, and the inmate who replied definitely was not the fair sun. When he yelled back, it was to say: "They treating us real (expletive) in here."On the street this is called "hollering," a way to say hello to your honey, your brother or your bunky in prison. It's a way to visit after visiting hours, to avoid waiting in line and being caught on an outstanding warrant, to flirt with a whole flotilla of captive men.It's an all-but-impossible enterprise at the more modern prisons clustered in Jessup, Hagerstown and on the Eastern Shore, where the state controls land well beyond the walls.

Brides who want a wedding worthy of a film romance today can cast their bridal party in diverse scenarios. They can look for inspiration in sophisticated '30s drawing rooms or dreamy historical formal gardens and dress bridesmaids in frills, suits or even tailoring.When Susan Yourison, 25, an advertising executive in Easton, walks down the aisle next month in a traditional beaded wedding gown, the guys won't be the only ones at the altar wearing pants. Ms. Yourison's bridesmaids will be dressed in classic black tuxedos.

Delegate Elizabeth S. Smith marveled at how quickly "anti-tax" lawmakers turned pro-tax last week.Only two months ago, sentiment among lawmakers was overwhelmingly against new levies. But the House of Delegates split along party lines March 9 when it passed a 5 percent sales tax on cigarettes, 105-28, and eliminated Maryland's 40 percent tax break on capital gains, 91-40.Smith, R-Davidsonville, says Democratic lawmakers turned a deaf ear to voters when they passed the $74 million tax package to balance the state's $11.6 billion budget.

Reaction to a new congressional redistricting plan that would lop off the southern tip of Anne Arundel County and pit Tom McMillen, D-4th, against Helen Bentley, R-2nd, is divided along party lines -- most Republicans support the plan, while Democrats oppose it.Despite partisan interests, officials from both parties agree that splitting the county even a little bit would be detrimental to Anne Arundel's political future.Some of the GOP faithful however, admit they could accept losing a small part of the county in exchange for a chance have Bentley as their representative.

LET ME TELL you something," Melvin A. "Mickey" Steinberg, the former lieutenant governor, said in Glen Burnie Monday, the day he and about 20 other former Democratic officeholders endorsed a Republican for governor. "Real Democrats care about the state of Maryland." Real Democrats? I'm confused. I figured real Democrats - you know, the real party animals - would back a Democrat for governor. But, hey, it's a free country, and a man's got to do what a man's got to do. Four years ago, Steinberg backed the Republican Ellen Sauerbrey over the Democratic incumbent Parris Glendening, so he's crossed this street before.

Mary Ann Saar, Maryland's public safety secretary, said it again last week at a breakfast honoring both ex-offenders who find their way into the mainstream working world and the companies that have the guts to hire them: "This is not a liberal issue. This is not a conservative issue. This is not a Republican issue. It is not a Democratic issue. This is a common-sense issue that will serve all of us." The issue is corrections reform: putting corrections back into corrections after decades of mindlessly warehousing criminals - particularly, nonviolent offenders and drug addicts - at great expense.

When he ran for the District 30 House of Delegates seat in 1990, Phillip D. Bissett took up a position to the political right of other Republicans in the race. This time, he calls himself the moderate on the ticket.Joan Beck, 61, of Hillsmere Estates and Ralph "Rocky" Rosacker, 45, an Annapolis business consultant, talk about cutting taxes and reducing government. They support Republican gubernatorial candidate Ellen Sauerbrey and her plan to cut the state income tax by 24 percent during the next four years.

Sen. Phil Gramm spoke to a packed house of Baltimore County Republicans last night in Towson -- and wowed them.Mr. Gramm, a Texas Republican running for the party's presidential nomination, delivered a punchy stump speech to an enthusiastic audience of more than 700 of the GOP faithful, taking shots at Democrats and his primary opponents, and punctuating the address with one-liners.Carrying forth the GOP gospel of the "Contract with America," he spoke of cutting taxes and the size of government, of fixing what he termed "the moral crisis" in the nation, and of putting more money back into the pockets of the American family by limiting government spending.