Race For Mayor

TODAY WE spend a few moments with Carl Stokes, whose views on education and neighborhoods and race make him one of Baltimore's thoughtful public figures. But first we look at Nathaniel J. McFadden, who needed to get in touch with his own brain. Four years ago, in the dispiriting slum of the campaign for mayor, it was state Senator McFadden who said that Baltimore was 202 years old, and that white people had held the job of mayor for 189 years and black people only 13 years. Meaning that, whatever else was happening, such as 300 homicides a year or decaying housing or the ongoing catastrophe of the public schools - or the character of the candidates - sheer racial history is why the city should not elect another white person until the political arithmetic was balanced, in about another 200 years.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has no free shot in her attempt to win election to a post she inherited less than 18 months ago. She faces five challengers in the Democratic primary, including three current officeholders, a one-time chief of staff to Ms. Rawlings-Blake's predecessor and a community activist. They are pressing for changes in how the city handles taxes, public safety, education, economic development and more. City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, who, like Ms. Rawlings-Blake, was elevated to his job after Mayor Sheila Dixon resigned last year, is running in a citywide election for the first time.

FREDERICK -- In this city where the major political debates usually concern overly rough road concrete and streetlights that shine in historic townhouse windows, the contest for mayor has taken on a distinctly big-city flavor.Voters will decide tomorrow between an incumbent Republican who says he is staying in office just to keep his opponent out and a challenger who became a Democrat just so she could run in this race.In their way, both are local political titans: Mayor James S. Grimes, 57, a self-made millionaire who owns a $40 million truck dealership and leasing company; and Frances Baker, 69, president pro tem of the city's Board of Aldermen, whose husband, Joseph, is named for his grandfather, a city patriarch.

Annapolitans head to the polls Tuesday to elect a new mayor. This year's race has had its ups and downs, with one primary candidate accused of sexual misconduct and another dropping out after revelations of debts and other personal financial problems came to light. The Baltimore Sun profiled each candidate before the primary. Here are summaries of those profiles for the three remaining candidates. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Josh Cohen Democrat Josh Cohen is an Annapolis native who studied music at the University of Maryland before switching majors and graduating with a degree in economics.

A. Robert Kaufman took his socialist agenda to The Block yesterday, where he announced his candidacy in the mayoral race and called for the creation of a "red-light district" where prostitution and drugs would be legal. Kaufman ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2003 and 1999 and also lost bids for a U.S. Senate seat last year and in 2004. Over the years, he has run in other federal, state and local races and never won a seat. In 2003, he garnered 645 votes when he ran in the Democratic mayoral primary.

Josh Cohen grew up a saxophone player, studying music at the University of Maryland. Then Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, and Cohen switched paths at the age of 18. "That was the first national presidential campaign that I really followed, and it just engaged me in a way that nothing had engaged me before," said the Annapolis native who's now in the race for mayor. "I realized that people can actually devote their time to working on issues that make a difference." The next semester, Cohen dropped his music classes and ended up graduating with a degree in economics.

The dramatic redistricting plan pushed through the Baltimore City Council earlier this year was no match for the power of incumbency. Only three incumbents who sought re-election were defeated. And despite early expectations that the new destrict arrangement would increase black representation, the new council will have only one more black member than the current body.Even so, with two council members having declined to seek re-election in order to run for comptroller, there will be enough fresh faces to make a difference.

MEMO TO Time magazine: Take your Luce journalistic morals and buzz off.We don't like strangers from New York coming into Baltimore and making fun of our candidates for mayor. We think people who live and work in Baltimore should be the ones making fun of the candidates for mayor of Baltimore.We know what we've got in the current campaign -- and we also know who's spending about 10 minutes to cover it, and trumpet its most ridiculous elements, and why.We've got Time magazine, brainchild of Henry Luce, spawner of imitators such as Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report, all of which call themselves "news" magazines -- even in an age where the world's news arrives instantly, around the clock, out of breath, and these "news" magazine folks show up a week later pretending they have something to tell us that we don't know.

TOMORROW IS Election Day in Annapolis. Voters will select a new mayor and at least five new aldermen. With such turnover, the prospect of significant change in the governance of Maryland's capital city is great. After eight years of amiable Alfred A. Hopkins as mayor, whoever is his successor -- former mayor Dennis Callahan or two-term Alderman Dean L. Johnson -- will take a more activist role.Mr. Callahan, a Democrat, won't hesitate to use the mayor's office as a bully pulpit. Although not as outspoken, Mr. Johnson will be more active than the incumbent in assembling long-term plans for development, infrastructure and transportation.

An older man with a familiar political name is among the candidates for mayor of Baltimore -- but it's not former Gov. William Donald Schaefer.Philip Charles Dypsky Sr., 84, a one-time bar owner who is part of the East Baltimore family that includes a current and former member of the state legislature, joins the mayor, the City Council president and a water-taxi driver in seeking the city's highest office.In all, 84 Democrats and 14 Republicans had filed late yesterday for three citywide offices and six councilmanic districts in September's primary elections.

The once and then former and then current and then former and then perhaps future candidate for Annapolis mayor was introduced to the podium. "Zina is going to come out, make a statement and then she is not going to take questions at this time," someone named Scott Sobel said. He added, "That's likely to change." Of course it is. If we learned anything about Zina: Wavering Princess during the eight whirlwind days that she was the Democratic candidate for the capital city's mayor, it's that things are likely to change.

Laurie Sears Deppa always wanted to be a diplomat. She studied in France, lived in five different states and has visited about 35 countries. She speaks French, Spanish and a little Italian, and she regularly hosts international students. But the 12-year Annapolis resident said she's fallen in love with the town, and for once in her life, she's staying put. "I really think the best place is Annapolis," said Deppa, a Democrat who jumped into the mayoral race in late July. Her political ambitions, she said, fall in line with her international expertise.

Chris Fox landed his first job before he turned 7. He took up a paper route, mowed lawns, shoveled snow and then served hot dogs on a street corner in Washington from the age of 12 to 19. In all those years, the 35-year-old Annapolis resident said he never wanted to get into politics. That was before he left his stand, bounced around the hospitality industry and opened an Irish pub on Church Circle in 2002. Since then, repeatedly trekking up to city hall to fight business policies made him grow tired of the current administration.

As a young girl, Zina Pierre said, she watched her pastor tackle social issues in Annapolis. And by high school, she had an idea of what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. "I grew up understanding that helping someone else was more important than helping yourself," said Pierre, 44, a Democrat who's channeling that spirit in her candidacy for Annapolis mayor. "It's about serving above oneself. My grandmother, Edna Weems, taught me that. We did it from a church perspective, not from a political perspective."

Josh Cohen grew up a saxophone player, studying music at the University of Maryland. Then Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, and Cohen switched paths at the age of 18. "That was the first national presidential campaign that I really followed, and it just engaged me in a way that nothing had engaged me before," said the Annapolis native who's now in the race for mayor. "I realized that people can actually devote their time to working on issues that make a difference." The next semester, Cohen dropped his music classes and ended up graduating with a degree in economics.

David H. Cordle Sr. began his college career as an entomology and applied science major. After an unpleasant meeting with organic chemistry, Cordle realized his heart was in criminal justice - a field that he has dedicated himself to for 30 years and hopes to use if elected to mayor of Annapolis. "That's one of my priorities as mayor, is public safety," said Cordle, a Republican. "That's the most paramount function of municipal government." Cordle works as chief criminal investigator for the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office and coordinator of the Witness Security Program, which he created in 1995.

In politics, voters' choices often boil down to the lesser of two evils -- or sometimes of three evils. That's the way the race for mayor is shaping up: There's no perfect candidate, no white knight.The Democratic primary so far is strictly a two-person affair. Incumbent Kurt L. Schmoke vs. Council President Mary Pat Clarke.On paper, Mr. Schmoke should be a winner. He has the money and clout of incumbency. He remains popular with older African-Americans who point to him as a sterling role model.

Eight years ago, proud of our ability to perform the simple skills of arithmetic familiar to any fourth-grader, this newspaper pronounced Clarence H. Du Burns no longer among the living. Our pollsters had him trailing Kurt L. Schmoke by 29 points in the race for mayor of Baltimore. Du's gone, our numbers said. You're crazy, Burns replied. This is the simple math, we declared, quite full of ourselves.Immediately, several things happened: Burns' money dried up, thereby preventing him from running a full-bodied, media-drenched campaign; almost everybody around him, sensing a lost cause, wished him luck and then bolted for the door; and Schmoke, perceived as the bringer of a bright new day, loaded with money, carrying aloft his resume like an Olympic torch, and filling the airwaves with relentless commercials, went on to be elected mayor.

Taking a stance against the city's top two leaders, Baltimore's police union yesterday officially threw its support behind two of their challengers: Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. for mayor and Michael Sarbanes for City Council president. At a news conference at its headquarters, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 presented Mitchell, a councilman, with a $3,000 campaign contribution, and said that 100 officers will volunteer on his campaign, waving signs and knocking on doors when they are off duty.

When the City Council seems adrift and irrelevant, you wonder why the office of council president attracts talented candidates. Of course, the job title - president - has a ring to it. And you get various trappings: a nice office, a car and a council chamber podium above the fray. Oh, and it's been a launching pad for mayors.