Republican Candidates

HOUSTON -- Rudolph W. Giuliani challenged Republican Party orthodoxy yesterday, saying that his support for abortion rights, gun control and gay rights should not disqualify him from winning the party's presidential nomination. Republicans need to be tolerant of dissenting views on those issues if they want to hold the White House, he said. In a forceful summation of the substantive and political case for his candidacy, delivered to a conservative audience at Houston Baptist University, Giuliani, a former mayor of New York, acknowledged that his views on social issues are out of line with those of many Republican primary voters.

The Economic Club of Annapolis has score an impresive "get" for its May 8 meeting, lining up a speaker whom many consider the most powerful figure in the Republican Party. Grover Norquist, creator and enforcer of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge that Republican candidates are practically obligated to sign, will speak Tuesday at the Anne Arundel County Public Library branch at 1410 West St. The meeting is scheduled to run from 7 to 8:45 p.m. Norquist, founder and president of American for Tax Reform, routinely asks all candidates to promise to oppose any tax increases at all levels of government.

I have a question for The Sun: Why are there caricatures of the four Republican candidates for president on the op-ed page instead of their pictures? The accompanying commentaries were sensitive, heartfelt, real sentiments written by supporters of those candidates and deserved more respect than that. Does The Sun think the 2012 election is a joke or perhaps a slam dunk for President Obama? Hopefully by November 2012 The Sun and the Democrats will get the comeuppance they so richly deserve!

Unfortunately there are better candidates than Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination, but they all appear to be waiting for 2016 when they will not have to run against an incumbent president while hoping for a repeat of the 2000 election when George Bush won. The GOP should be happy, and I am glad for your endorsement of the individual who through prior experience is best qualified among the candidates to be president, and certainly that is Mitt Romney,...

Fans of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" are used to comedian Jon Stewart cracking jokes and generally, well, not being very serious.  Last night, on "The O'Reilly Factor," however, the comedian showed off his serious side -- talking about the Republican presidential candidates and President Barack Obama.  Some interesting topics were discussed:  • Stewart's pick for the best Republican candidate? Either Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney.  • Has Obama met the comedian's expectations?

There's no disputing that Republicans are surly these days. With the exception of South Carolina, turnout among GOP voters has been tepid. Hordes of commentators, me included, have argued at length that this apathetic grumpiness reflects a deep dissatisfaction with the Republican field. Worse, many Republicans recognize that their cantankerousness over their choices makes things worse. It's a vicious cycle. As George Orwell once wrote: "A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks.

Republican candidates at all levels gathered at a luncheon yesterday to discuss campaign issues and to celebrate their first opportunity in more than 30 years to challenge Democrats in every elected office in the county.The Severna Park Republican Women's Club sponsored the event, which attracted 31 candidates running for offices from governor to House of Delegates to a seat on the Republican Central Committee. The primary is Sept. 13.The top issues for most of the candidates were crime, education and efficiency in government.

Five Republican candidates for County Council are uniting to push a new idea for property tax relief, though Democrats and at least one other Republican are not enthused. Conceived by Greg Fox, a western county District 5 GOP candidate, the proposal would allow people who sell a home in Howard County and then buy another in the county to avoid paying taxes on the full value of their new abode. The idea is to allow people to move a portion of their protection under the county's 5 percent assessment cap from their old home to the new one, though full details have not been developed.

REPUBLICANS IN the House of Representatives had history, money and numbers in their favor in yesterday's elections.Historically, the party holding the White House loses an average of 32 seats in an off-year election. It did not happen yesterday.The GOP spent more money than the Democrats, especially for television ads the last few days before the election. They gambled on using the impeachment issue. It did not make much difference.And the GOP had fewer seats at risk than the Democrats. But the landslide the Republicans were counting on never materialized.

In one of the key political races in Maryland this fall, House Speaker Michael E. Busch and two other Democrats face a challenge from three upstart Republicans looking to topple one of the state's most powerful -- and polarizing -- political leaders. Hard-charging newcomers Ron George, an Annapolis jeweler and Innkeeper; Dr. Ron Elfenbein, a doctor practicing in Baltimore; and Andy Smarick, head of a Washington nonprofit that promotes charter schools, technically are running for any of the three House of Delegates seats in District 30. But, saying they sense Busch is vulnerable, the Republican candidates are knocking on thousands of voters' doors -- accompanied last weekend by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. -- trying to knock down a giant in state politics.

I have a question for The Sun: Why are there caricatures of the four Republican candidates for president on the op-ed page instead of their pictures? The accompanying commentaries were sensitive, heartfelt, real sentiments written by supporters of those candidates and deserved more respect than that. Does The Sun think the 2012 election is a joke or perhaps a slam dunk for President Obama? Hopefully by November 2012 The Sun and the Democrats will get the comeuppance they so richly deserve!

Candidates in Maryland's competitive political contests fanned out across the state for a final weekend of handshaking ahead of Tuesday's primary, hoping to gin up interest in an election that has largely failed to capture voters' attention. They spoke at forums, attended rallies and walked through battleground neighborhoods knocking on doors, leaving trails of colorful campaign literature and yard signs behind as they raced to the next event. The main mission: Reminding supporters to turn out. At stake in Tuesday's primary election are the Democratic and Republican nominations for a nationally significant House of Representatives seat in Western Maryland and up to 37 delegates that voters will award to one or more of the GOP presidential candidates.

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul stormed through the University of Maryland on Wednesday, delivering his trademark libertarian message of noninterventionism and hands-off government to a wildly enthusiastic crowd of students who chanted his name. Paul told the 1,780 students who packed Ritchie Coliseum on the College Park campus that the government should get out of Afghanistan, repeal the Patriot Act, legalize marijuana and end the Selective Service system — ideas that repeatedly brought the students to their feet.

Republicans running for Congress in the competitive 6th District piled on Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett during a debate Sunday, arguing that the GOP incumbent lacks the sense of urgency needed to win in what is likely to be among the most competitive House races in the country. Most of the GOP candidates running in the April 3 primary to unseat Bartlett and take on the Democratic nominee in November used the debate to offer criticism of their fellow Republican's 10-term career in the House of Representatives, even though their positions on most of the issues did not diverge from his significantly.

Redistricting, early voting and the flood of interest from a presidential election year has made March a critical month for candidates vying for positions in Congress, perhaps none as hectic as the 8th Congressional District race. Carroll County has previous been squarely in the 6th Congressional District, represented by longtime Rep. Roscoe Bartlett. But redistricting has changed all that, splitting the county between the 1st and 8th Congressional seats. A large of portion of Carroll is in the 8th - along with much of Frederick County and slivers of Montgomery County all the way south to the Washington line.

Maryland's primary is now just two weeks away (with early voting starting this Saturday) and - surprise - ballots cast here might even be relevant to the presidential selection process. On Wednesday, Mitt Romney is scheduled to be the first of the Republican candidates to traipse into the Old Line State to state his case for taking home 37 delegates in the winner-take-all event with appearances at theU.S. Naval Academy and in Arbutus and Frederick. For a state dominated by Democrats, this is a rarity that GOP voters should savor.

The most nerve-racking moments have already passed for the three Republicans seeking Carroll County commissioner seats. Dean Minnich, Julia Walsh Gouge and Perry L. Jones Jr. fought their way through a brutal 10-candidate primary to win their party's nominations. But the seven weeks since have been easy by comparison, with the remaining candidates agreeing on major issues and even many Democrats saying privately that Republicans probably will capture at least two seats on the three-member board.

Maryland's primary is now just two weeks away (with early voting starting this Saturday) and - surprise - ballots cast here might even be relevant to the presidential selection process. On Wednesday, Mitt Romney is scheduled to be the first of the Republican candidates to traipse into the Old Line State to state his case for taking home 37 delegates in the winner-take-all event with appearances at theU.S. Naval Academy and in Arbutus and Frederick. For a state dominated by Democrats, this is a rarity that GOP voters should savor.

There's no disputing that Republicans are surly these days. With the exception of South Carolina, turnout among GOP voters has been tepid. Hordes of commentators, me included, have argued at length that this apathetic grumpiness reflects a deep dissatisfaction with the Republican field. Worse, many Republicans recognize that their cantankerousness over their choices makes things worse. It's a vicious cycle. As George Orwell once wrote: "A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks.

At first, it seemed as if Rick Santorum was questioning President Barack Obama's religious faith. Now, it appears that what he meant was to question the faith of all Americans who believe clean water, air and land is in the public interest. For someone running for secular office, the former Pennsylvania senator has expressed a lot of thoughts about Catholicism, Christianity and religion in general, but even his supporters must have been surprised when he denounced President Obama as embracing a "phony theology" during a recent campaign appearance in Ohio.