Presidential Election

Boris N. Yeltsin was a destroyer at a time when there was much that was in need of destruction - primarily the sclerotic and decrepit Soviet Union, where an entire tottering system was devoted to the ideology of nothing-makes-sense. He turned on his one-time comrades and, drawing upon deep and vocal public support, he stood up for Russia - and in doing so stood up as well for the other 14 Soviet republics - and thereby swept aside the U.S.S.R. His death yesterday at age 76, more than 15 years after the Soviet crackup, puts in relief one salient and dismal fact about Russia today: Mr. Yeltsin, the first democratically elected president in 1,000 years of Russian history, outlived the democracy he did more than anyone else to bring into being.

What if the wrong candidate wins France's presidential election? If the wrong candidate were to win because of electoral fraud - stuffing of ballot boxes or rigging of votes - all of France would be up in arms, and the international media would shine a glaring spotlight. But a different specter hangs over French voters today: that the wrong candidate will win because of an antiquated method for electing their president. The current method, a first-round free-for-all followed by a second round between the top two finishers, is designed for when there are two major candidates who are far ahead of the pack.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- A car bomb shook a Christian neighborhood outside Beirut yesterday, killing a Lebanese lawmaker and six other people days before the parliament of this divided country is to hold a presidential election. The killing of Antoine Ghanem, 64, a member of the Western-backed parliamentary majority, was the sixth assassination in two years to target prominent detractors of neighboring Syria. Some analysts said the killing was an attempt by groups loyal to Syria to reduce the size of a parliamentary bloc supported by the United States and Europe.

All the big questions for 2008 are on the Democratic side: Can Hillary Rodham Clinton show her humanity? Does Barack Obama have enough experience? Will John Edwards find a cheaper barber? But there is one big question that has hardly been asked at all, mostly because it threatens to upset the narrative of the best election in decades: Do Republicans have any chance whatsoever of winning the White House in 2008? Given the extraordinary unpopularity of the Bush administration, isn't the Democratic candidate, whoever he or she ultimately is, going to be a shoo-in?

The Nine By Jeffrey Toobin Doubleday / 384 pages / $27.95 In recent years the annual workload of the U.S. Supreme Court has shrunk further and further. In the 1980s, the court was hearing and deciding as many as 175 cases a year; in its two most recent terms the totals have dropped to 82 and now a century-long low of 68. The justices insist that the shrinkage is not intentional, and legal scholars cite a bevy of reasons, such as fewer disagreements among lower courts, for the reduced numbers.

HANOVER, N.H. -- The country that just proved it had no patience for lengthy political dramas had better get ready. Here comes the 2000 campaign.The nation holds these presidential contests every four years, of course. But this one is different, and not only because it will take place amid the symbolism of the millennial year. It's different because the election will occur in the wake of a political ordeal that repelled the nation.That makes the presidential election at once more critical and less consequential than any election of our time.

THE U.S. presidential election is a scant 14 months away, and you can feel the excitement building across the nation, all the way from Washington, D.C., to the immediate suburbs of Washington, D.C.For the benefit of those of you normal civilian humans who live outside Wingtip World and do not plan to start caring about this election for at least another year, here's a rundown of recent developments:On the Republican side, the big summer news event was...

WASHINGTON -- Does anyone doubt that this presidential campaign is shaping up to be a little unconventional? Consider this: When Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah recently announced his intention to seek the presidency -- about 17 months before the next presidential election -- political insiders dismissed him as too late.When Mr. Hatch made his surprise declaration, 11 other Republicans were already in the field of presidential dreamers, some for a year or more. And one of them -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush -- was so far ahead in the polls that the wise men of politics were already anointing him as the next GOP nominee.

Four Baltimore City Council members went to Annapolis yesterday to denounce an effort by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller to move municipal elections to coincide with gubernatorial balloting.Miller's proposal is "highly offensive" and a violation of Baltimore's home rule, Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. told the House Commerce and Government Matters Committee. He was joined by council members and fellow Democrats Robert W. Curran, Lois A. Garey and Bernard C. "Jack" Young.Although Miller's bill passed the Senate easily, it is given almost no chance of passing the House, where the city delegation has declined to support it.The Senate president said yesterday that he expects the bill to be defeated this year.

Baltimore's next mayor, City Council and comptroller might serve for a term of three or five years, instead of the traditional four in order for city elections to coincide with state or federal races.Northwest Baltimore Councilman Robert Curran has introduced a bill proposing the change, which he estimated would save the city about $4 million in election costs. City elections are scheduled for next year and 2003. Curran's bill would alter the second election to line up with state races in 2002 or the presidential race in 2004.

Voter turnout in Maryland was not as overwhelming as expected. About 76 percent of registered voters headed to the polls or voted absentee, far short of the projected 85 percent turnout that would have set a record and that elections officials had predicted. The number of ballots cast, however, did reach a high of 2.6 million, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections. Only 66 percent of registered voters in Baltimore City turned out, according to preliminary data. Turnout was higher in Baltimore County, at 75 percent.

For month after month after exhausting, exhilarating month, Catharine Robertson took her first sip of morning coffee while gazing at political Web sites. National Public Radio, which she kept on almost every waking moment, became her life soundtrack, and political bloggers her best friends. So when Barack Obama won the presidential election Tuesday night, ending Robertson's constant stream of hypotheticals, life as she'd come to know it essentially stopped. She and millions of other hard-core election-data addicts woke up yesterday asking: Now what?

Maryland voters will flock to the polls today, lured by a momentous presidential election but also called to decide on slot-machine gambling and to settle one of the most competitive congressional races in the country. Expected record turnout could produce long lines at precincts, which might influence decisions on a proposed constitutional amendment to allow early voting in Maryland. Pages and pages of down-ballot bond issues could further cause voting delays. But long lines are not likely to stifle voter enthusiasm, said Linda Lamone, the state's elections administrator.

WASHINGTON - Americans are making history today. They'll choose the country's first black president or they'll elect its oldest new chief executive, with the first female vice president. More than 130 million voters, a record number, are expected to cast ballots across the country. If it is a runaway for Barack Obama or John McCain, a winner could emerge as early as 9 or 10 tonight. Even if the popular vote count is relatively close, an Electoral College landslide could develop if most swing states tip the same way. But it will be after 11 p.m. Eastern time - when polls close on the West Coast - before the president-elect can claim victory in the longest, most expensive, and many would say the most exciting, presidential contest ever.

James Massey, director of the Harford County Board of Elections, typically carries voter registration forms with him. They came in handy last week when he went to the barbershop. Before his trim was complete Thursday, he had given out all the forms - to the barber, the receptionist and a few other customers. "I call it voter outreach," said Massey, whose staff is handling nearly 500 new registration forms a day. "It has been frenetic. A lot of people are saying that they want to vote this year.

Harford County residents are registering to vote in record numbers, often as many as 500 daily in the days preceding the registration deadline at 9 p.m. Tuesday. The heightened interest has officials predicting an unprecedented 90 percent turnout on Nov. 4. The Board of Elections will remain open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow, the Columbus Day holiday, and Tuesday to accommodate what officials expect to be a crush of last-minute registrations. "Typically, registration goes up in a presidential election, when there is always more interest," said James E. Massey, director of Harford's Board of Elections.

Derrick Martin spent part of his vacation swimming and snorkeling in the Bahamas. But the cornerback's mind was never far from the news in the United States. Q: If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be? A: Probably Barack Obama. Just to pick his head and see what he's thinking about going into this presidential election. Q: And what would you order for dinner? A: I'm going to get that steak and lobster because he's probably paying for it. So I'm going to get the most expensive thing on the bill.

With millions of new voters heading to the polls this November and many states introducing new voting technologies, election officials and voting monitors say they fear the combination is likely to create long lines, stressed-out poll workers and late tallies on Election Day. At least 11 states will use new voting equipment as the nation shifts away from touch-screen machines and to the paper ballots of optical scanners, which will be used by more than...

Republicans and Democrats in Howard County each held their annual party dinners last week, and they were a study in contrasts in this presidential election year. The GOP Lincoln Day Dinner at Turf Valley on May 18 drew about 160 people, who saw the featured speaker, former gubernatorial candidate and 16-year House of Delegates member Ellen R. Sauerbrey, give a nonpolitical presentation. Until her appointment expired in January, Sauerbrey had spent the past two years as assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration.

When the Founding Fathers first wrote the Constitution, only white men could vote. Since that time, extraordinary people have given up life and liberty to expand voting rights to all citizens so that the United States could try to become a government of the people. But some people encounter huge barriers to voting, and we must improve our record on that problem. No democracy is perfect, but it is certainly made less perfect if people who can engage choose not to. According to the Census, in the highly contested 2000 presidential election, national voter turnout was only 60 percent of the potential voters.