Republican Primary

ANNE ARUNDEL'S tax cap means the county's budget will be tight in the coming years. The county's schools -- many of which are old and falling down -- are getting more money for renovation, but what about improving academics? And from Glen Burnie to Shadyside, there's a struggle between developers and preservationists. The favored county government hopefuls in the Sept. 10 primary all offer creative ideas about those issues. County Executive: Current executive Janet Owens faces no primary opposition, but two Republicans want to challenge her in the fall.

CLARIFICATION: An article about the 2nd District race for Congress in yesterday's Maryland section did not mention a Democrat who has filed with the State Board of Elections. Oz Bengur, 53, an investment banker from Ruxton who has never held elective office, filed on March 19. As one of a few races that will determine control of Congress, the campaign to succeed Republican Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich in Maryland's 2nd District will attract national attention and campaign money, but the outcome will likely hinge on the candidates' well-established local reputations.

A fifth Democrat declared his candidacy for mayor of Annapolis last night in a surprise move just before last night's filing deadline. Seventeen candidates have filed for seats on the city council. Aldermen Sheila M. Tolliver and Michael W. Fox are running unopposed in Wards 2 and 7. Franklin Yates, 66, a retired Conduit Street resident who worked for the campaign of County Executive Janet S. Owens, will challenge former two-time Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins, Alderman Ellen O. Moyer, former County Council member Maureen Lamb and former U.S. State Department attorney Sylvanus B. Jones in the September primary.

LOS ANGELES -- Last Thursday, when Sen. John McCain debated Gov. George W. Bush and Alan Keyes, he started the day here with a rally and then flew east for another campaign event in New York. He stopped in St. Louis, went to a television studio and participated in the debate by satellite. His travel produced the ludicrous scene in Los Angeles of Governor Bush and Mr. Keyes standing at two podiums, with a television set perched on a third showing Mr. McCain from St. Louis. While Mr. Bush and Mr. Keyes had direct interchange, Mr. Bush at one point walking over to Keyes for a little television theatrics, the necessarily stationary Mr. McCain peered out from the television set. This cameo was only a minor episode in the fiasco we know as Super Tuesday.

FOR 317,000 Marylanders who opted against registering as a Democrat or a Republican, primary elections are generally lonely affairs. But not this year. For the first time, registered Maryland independents can vote in Tuesday's Republican presidential election. That's a significant development in a year in which Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Texas Gov. George W. Bush are waging a heated campaign for the nomination. Independents played key roles in New Hampshire and Michigan; they have the chance to do so in Maryland -- if they vote.

Although you may not have seen a bumper sticker, button or billboard, Maryland is holding a presidential primary next week. "We've been doing this on a zero budget," said Tony Caligiuri, state chairman of Republican John McCain's effort. "Everything is just sort of spontaneous volunteer activity." Maryland is one of 11 states holding primaries March 7 -- Super Tuesday. But the election here is overshadowed by votes in New York, California and Ohio as well as what is essentially a regional primary in five New England states.

DETROIT -- Sen. John McCain, riding the same wave of Democrats and independents that won for him in New Hampshire, put himself back in the thick of the Republican presidential race last night by defeating Gov. George W. Bush in the Michigan primary. McCain also easily won the primary in his home state of Arizona, giving himself a two-state sweep, after his decisive loss to Bush on Saturday in the South Carolina primary. "We took on the iron triangle of big money, lobbyists and legislation, and we won another battle," McCain told cheering supporters in Phoenix, repeating his familiar slogan.

Baltimore Democrats outnumber Republican voters 9 to 1, odds that traditionally make the winner of the GOP September primary political road kill in November.The last Republican to be elected Baltimore mayor was Theodore R. McKeldin, 36 years ago.Amid the city's 17-candidate Democratic primary brawl, the city's six Republican hopefuls are struggling to have their campaigns heard.Republican mayoral candidate David F. Tufaro has the support of party leaders in his bid to capture the majority of the 30,000 Republican voters.

REPUBLICANS in Maryland have to broaden their base if they expect to win statewide office soon.That's the conclusion of Ellen R. Sauerbrey, who lost the last two gubernatorial elections because her conservative GOP support proved too narrow. She and other party leaders are endorsing a plan to let independents vote in the Republicans' big presidential primary next March.That would be a wise move by the state's minority party, whichhas made little headway in denting Democratic dominance of statewide offices.

ONCE AGAIN it appears as if Sen. Paul Sarbanes will not need his running shoes for his re-election run. The same scuffed loafers will do for this politician who has not faced a threatening opponent in years.Mr. Sarbanes' election to an unprecedented fifth term as a U.S. senator from Maryland seems inevitable but for one possibility that promises the thrill of forcing him to break a sweat in the next campaign. After the March 2000 primary, a well-financed Rep. Constance Morella, a Montgomery County Republican, could be standing next to him at the starting line.