Party Politics

Should the Johns Hopkins University start looking around for a good spot to build the Michael R. Bloomberg Presidential Library, so construction can begin as soon as he leaves the White House in, let's say, 2017? Or is it a bit premature to think about Baltimore joining Little Rock, Ark., and Yorba Linda, Calif., in the all-star lineup of ex-presidents' repositories? Probably so. But the announcement by Hopkins' most famous and most philanthropic living alumnus - he has bestowed at least $200 million on the school he graduated from in 1964 - caused a not inconsiderable boomlet in speculation.

Everyday concerns are what matter As a small-town mayor, I do not see much in the way of party politics. In Hampstead, we provide core municipal services like police protection, trash removal, public water and road maintenance. Even conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats can generally agree that fixing a pothole is a good idea. Over the course of a year, I attend dozens of community events from the opening day of Little League season to Eagle Scout ceremonies to calling bingo at the senior center.

When Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. delivered a stunning vote of no confidence in the state's voting system last week, he raised the specter of this fall's election ending in disarray. To some Democrats, he also began to lay the foundation to challenge the outcome - if he winds up losing. "That's the first thing I thought about," said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat who served with Ehrlich in Congress. "I don't put anything past my good friend." Ehrlich's questions about election safety cast a cloud over the coming vote in a state that a dozen years ago experienced one of the closest gubernatorial elections in U.S. history.

WASHINGTON - The debate over what to do about Iraq, with August being one of the bloodiest months for U.S. forces since the invasion nearly 2 1/2 years ago, has reached new heights. President Bush is under intense pressure from media criticism and an energized antiwar movement inspired by military mom Cindy Sheehan. His poll numbers are dropping, and his vaunted message machine has suffered a rare setback. Yet much of the talk among Washington insiders is about the disarray within the Democratic Party, whose leaders are blamed for failing to present a unified opposition or not offering clear alternatives to the mess in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Despite the Republican Party's victory last November, there are strains within the nation's governing party, and President Bush's personal popularity may be the key element holding it together, according to a new national opinion study. The Republican base is divided over economic and domestic issues such as government help for the poor and regulating business to help the environment. Those divergent views could create increasing instability in the future, especially if national security - a unifying factor for the president's party since Sept.

In the wake of any presidential election, there is always the requisite talk of healing the wounds, closing the divides, of the necessity of coming together for the good of the nation. Sometimes, it even happens. Herbert C. Smith, a political scientist at McDaniel College, recalls that John F. Kennedy - coming off a squeaker win over Richard Nixon in 1960 - put Republicans in his Cabinet, notably Robert McNamara as secretary of defense and Douglas Dillon as secretary of the treasury. That was then, this is now. Though there are clearly opportunities in this political season for President Bush to move to the center, there is little likelihood that that will happen.

The Constitution assigns no tasks to presidential candidates who lose. Their only obligation, required by the workings of democracy, is to admit that someone else has won. The losers of recent contests have promised to remain active in politics, but then almost disappeared from view (Michael S. Dukakis); or pledged to "sit back," but then stayed involved in party politics (Bob Dole). Their predictions for themselves have proved notoriously unreliable. No candidate in the past 125 years has been required to wait as long as Vice President Al Gore to learn an unfavorable outcome - 35 days - without a victory to make up for the long wait.

In many ways, the race for Howard County school board is a lot like the race for the next president of the United States. On many issues the candidates seem to agree, although their approaches differ, keeping many voters undecided. And, for many county residents, party politics has popped up in the race a little too often. The four candidates for county Board of Education - Stephen C. Bounds, Virginia Charles, Patricia S. Gordon and Jerry D. Johnston - debated their way past 14 other candidates in the March primary to get to this point.

BEIJING - While the press in the United States has focused on presidential debates, China's state-run newspapers recently dedicated their front pages to another big political story: the annual meeting of the Communist Party's Central Committee. U.S. reporters analyze differences between the presidential candidates, interview potential voters and compare polling results. China's major papers carried stories last week that ran virtually word for word, accompanied by identical photos of the party's aging leaders raising their right hands in unison to approve a draft of the 10th Five Year Plan.

As if the Inner Harbor East hotel project hadn't seen enough strange happenings already, there was a sight yesterday that bordered on the surreal. Near the base of the half-finished 32-story hotel was a large tent made of transparent plastic. Inside, amid flowers, ferns and tuxedo-clad waiters, a crowd of Baltimore's leading political and economic figures munched on curried couscous salad and chocolate-covered strawberries. Baking executive John Paterakis Sr., the main force behind the hotel, was there, as were Baltimore Development Corp.