Party Line

Washington - In the first major test of President Barack Obama's ability to push his ambitious agenda through Congress, the House approved yesterday the largest attempt since World War II to use the federal budget to redirect the course of the nation's economy. Obama had worked hard for bipartisan support for the $819 billion stimulus package, beginning to negotiate possible compromises with Republicans even before entering the White House. But the measure passed the House on a strict party-line vote, 244 to 188. Not a single Republican supported the bill, and only 11 out of 255 Democrats opposed it, including freshman Rep. Frank M. Kratovil Jr. of Maryland's mostly Eastern Shore 1st District.

Washington -- A House committee voted yesterday to endorse criminal prosecution of Joshua B. Bolten, President Bush's chief of staff, and former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the firing of U.S. attorneys last year. The 22-17 party-line vote of the Judiciary Committee calling for contempt-of-Congress proceedings against the two aides was referred to the full House for consideration. That vote is expected to occur after Labor Day when Congress returns from its August recess.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa --Five years ago, Stanford Makashule Gana quit the African National Congress, the storied anti-apartheid movement of Nelson Mandela that has come to dominate politics and government in South Africa. It was a brave move. But then the 18-year-old college student did something even bolder for a poor, black villager: He joined the Democratic Alliance, the small but vociferous opposition often dismissed as the "white party." "Coconut," he vividly recalls party comrades calling him. "Sellout."

WASHINGTON -- Triumphant Democrats returned to Capitol Hill yesterday to prepare for the transfer of power in Congress, but their postelection emphasis on unity quickly dissolved into power struggles and jockeying over the spoils of victory. Much of the squabbling stemmed from the decision over the weekend by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who is likely to become House speaker, to endorse a longtime loyalist to be her second in command. Hoyer spurned In backing Rep. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, a strong critic of the Iraq war, for the post, Pelosi turned her back on Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, who is favored by many of her party's more moderate members.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. seized on the failed merger of BGE's parent company and a Florida utility as clear evidence, two weeks before the election, that Democratic leaders are arrogant, over-reaching and anti-business. Ehrlich had long warned that the legislature's attempts to replace regulators and slow the merger would kill the deal. But the potency of his "I-told-you-so" moment is unclear. Nearly every issue at this stage of the election cycle has elicited a response that falls clearly on party lines - but not this one. Ehrlich has long backed the merger, but many other political leaders in the state - including some members of the governor's party - say they were never convinced the deal would have been good for Maryland consumers.

In the closely watched contest to fill the state Senate seat being vacated by Philip C. Jimeno, a conservative Republican engineer is self-funding his campaign against a former Democratic delegate. Two of the four Republicans who ran against Bryan Simonaire in September's primary election, as well as Jimeno's GOP opponent in 2002, have endorsed Democrat Walt Shandrowsky, who served in the legislature from 1979 to 1982, saying they believed Shandrowsky would be a better state senator. But Simonaire says he represents the values of District 31, which includes Glen Burnie, Brooklyn Park, Pasadena and part of Severna Park.

The Howard County Council is scheduled to vote on a Republican-sponsored property tax cut bill for seniors 70 and over Tuesday night, but the vote comes as political tensions between the body's two Republicans and three Democrats are reaching the boiling point. The bill offers to freeze property taxes after a 25 percent cut to seniors with incomes under $75,000. A large number of seniors spoke in favor of the bill at a council public hearing Sept. 19. Commission on Aging members said they, too, like the concept, but suggested delaying consideration until the county gets more data on the cost and the housing needs of seniors.

Voters stray from party Republicans in Harford County largely rejected partisanship in last week's primaries, a sign that local Democrats hope opens the door for their first significant gains in more than a decade. In addition to nominating four candidates who recently switched affiliation to the GOP, as well as a candidate for County Council president whose campaign largely lacked party bias, Republicans rebuffed the chairman of the party's central committee and a candidate who had billed himself as a "conservative's conservative."

Everybody talks in politics about cooperation across the partisan divide, of cooperating for the greater good. All very nice - even smart - and yet almost nobody does it. So photographs in the newspaper last week featuring Republican Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest and Democrat Rep. Elijah E. Cummings on a happy-talk tour of Maryland's Eastern Shore had a certain shock value. One of the shots caught the Republican helping the Democrat into a pair of protective booties. They were about to start wading through manure on a Kent County dairy farm owned by Howard McHenry.

WASHINGTON -- Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., President's Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, is expected to clear his first congressional hurdle today when the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on his confirmation, setting the stage for consideration by the full Senate as early as this week. Each vote is expected to divide largely along party lines. The Judiciary Committee's 10 Republicans are likely to vote to support the federal appeals judge, and the panel's eight Democrats appear likely to oppose him. As the full Senate prepares to consider the nomination, advocacy groups on both sides are conducting targeted television and radio ad campaigns in an effort to move a few votes one way or the other, although confirmation appears all but certain.