Senate Race

Republican Senate candidate Dan Bongino begins airing the first radio advertisement of his campaign today, a largely introductory spot that focuses on his outsider status and criticizes “career bureaucrats.” Bongino narrates the minute-long ad, which the campaign said begins airing on WCBM in Baltimore today. “Can we all agree that politicians aren't getting the job done?” the former U.S. Secret Service agent asks in the ad. “I refuse to accept that the current crop of D.C. bureaucrats is the best we can do.” Bongino is running against nine other Republicans in the April 3 primary, including former Pentagon official Richard J. Douglas.

WASHINGTON -- Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said Saturday that Massachusetts congressman Ed Markey would make an "outstanding United States senator" but said he has no plans to campaign for his fellow Democrat, who is running in a special election to replace John Kerry. The closely watched April 30 Democratic primary for Senate in Massachusetts will pit Markey against another congressman, Stephen Lynch. Markey has an early lead in polling for the seat held since 1985 by Kerry, who became Secretary of State this month.

Republican Senate candidate Richard Douglas began airing a statewide radio advertisement on Thursday -- the first in the GOP primary -- suggesting that it's "time to wake Congress up. " Referring to Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin as "Rip Van Cardin," the spot argues that the first-term incumbent has been inattentive to national and local issues, including the rising price of gasoline and unemployment. The ads are running in Baltimore and elsewhere in the state. "Honey, did you see where gas prices could go to $6?"

Despite a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz from one challenger and an aggressive grassroots campaign from another, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland remains among the safest incumbents in the nation as he runs for a second term, according to a new poll. Potomac businessman Rob Sobhani, running as an independent, has not cut significantly into Cardin's lead though he has pumped millions of dollars of his own money into the race. He may be helping the Democratic incumbent by siphoning some voters away from Republican challenger Daniel Bongino.

WASHINGTON -- Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said Saturday that Massachusetts congressman Ed Markey would make an "outstanding United States senator" but said he has no plans to campaign for his fellow Democrat, who is running in a special election to replace John Kerry. The closely watched April 30 Democratic primary for Senate in Massachusetts will pit Markey against another congressman, Stephen Lynch. Markey has an early lead in polling for the seat held since 1985 by Kerry, who became Secretary of State this month.

Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, who so far appears to be in a strong position to win a second term this year, began airing his first in a series of television ads today touting his accomplishments in Congress. The first spot, which will run on broadcast television in Baltimore and on cable in the Washington suburbs, focuses on Cardin's successful effort to guarantee dental benefits for patients covered under the federal Children's Health Insurance program. The legislation came in response to a 12-year-old Prince George's County boy who died in 2007 after an infection from an abscessed tooth spread to his brain.

Despite a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz from one challenger and an aggressive grassroots campaign from another, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland remains among the safest incumbents in the nation as he runs for a second term, according to a new poll. Potomac businessman Rob Sobhani, running as an independent, has not cut significantly into Cardin's lead though he has pumped millions of dollars of his own money into the race. He may be helping the Democratic incumbent by siphoning some voters away from Republican challenger Daniel Bongino.

BEL AIR -- Delegate Eileen M. Rehrmann, who has never lost an election, kept her string intact last night by crushing two rivals in the Democratic primary for Harford County Executive.In the other county race that made headlines, County Executive Habern W. Freeman Jr. handily defeated his longtime ally, former state Sen. William S. James, in the race for the District 34 Senate seat.Ms. Rehrmann won by almost 2-to-1 over over another previously unbeaten politician, County Councilwoman Barbara A. Risacher, D-District A, and Bel Air accountant John P. Seisman Sr.If Ms. Rehrmann wins the general election -- as has every previous winner of the Democratic primary -- she would become the first female Harford County executive and only the second female county executive in Maryland.

What does $200,000 worth of negative political advertisements buy these days? In Maryland's U.S. Senate race, apparently nothing.Republican Bill Brock has spent at least that much in the past three weeks portraying Democrat Paul S. Sarbanes as a tax-raiser who is soft on crime. But the results from a new statewide poll show that Mr. Brock has failed to narrow the incumbent's solid lead.The poll, conducted by Mason-Dixon Political Media Research for The Sun and other news organizations, showed Mr. Sarbanes leading with 57 percent of the vote to Mr. Brock's 32 percent.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The high road is closed in the North Carolina Senate race.From the beginning, the contest between Republican Sen. Jesse Helms and Democrat Harvey Gantt, the black former mayor of Charlotte, was framed in stark ideological terms. Helms, the unflinching conservative, and Gantt, the unapologetic liberal, are polar opposites in politics.Until this week, however, they had waged a relatively genteel campaign, barely touching gloves as they sparred via television commercials.Now, with the election less than a week away and the race too close to call, the gloves are off."

Republican Senate candidate Richard J. Douglas launched his first television ad Tuesday, criticizing incumbent Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin on the economy. Douglas, who is seeking the GOP nomination in next Tuesday's primary, is running the ad in the Baltimore cable market, his campaign said. The ad, titled "Cardin-omics," plays off a recent television spot aired by Cardin. It is the first television ad in the Republican primary. "Cardin votes against the Keystone pipeline, gas prices go up," the narrator says in the 30-second ad as words are written on a chalkboard and images of a classroom are shown.

Republican Senate candidate Dan Bongino begins airing the first radio advertisement of his campaign today, a largely introductory spot that focuses on his outsider status and criticizes “career bureaucrats.” Bongino narrates the minute-long ad, which the campaign said begins airing on WCBM in Baltimore today. “Can we all agree that politicians aren't getting the job done?” the former U.S. Secret Service agent asks in the ad. “I refuse to accept that the current crop of D.C. bureaucrats is the best we can do.” Bongino is running against nine other Republicans in the April 3 primary, including former Pentagon official Richard J. Douglas.

Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, who so far appears to be in a strong position to win a second term this year, began airing his first in a series of television ads today touting his accomplishments in Congress. The first spot, which will run on broadcast television in Baltimore and on cable in the Washington suburbs, focuses on Cardin's successful effort to guarantee dental benefits for patients covered under the federal Children's Health Insurance program. The legislation came in response to a 12-year-old Prince George's County boy who died in 2007 after an infection from an abscessed tooth spread to his brain.

Rebecca L. Nelson will be able to use the Weir family name again on the Nov. 2 general election ballot for the 7th District state Senate seat. After Nelson defeated James G. Stavropoulos Jr. in the September primary election, he questioned the legitimacy of the name she had used on the ballot, "Rebecca Weir Nelson. " Nelson is a cousin of Democratic Del. Michael H. Weir Jr. Stavropoulos accused her of using that name to hide criminal incidents that occurred after her failed 2006 run for the House of Delegates.

When he began his U.S. Senate run in Maryland last year, Eric S. Wargotz was largely unknown. He still is. Wargotz, 53, is the Republican nominee running against Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. The wealthy physician has put more than $500,000 of his own into the campaign, yet he risks being outspent by a ratio of more than 20-to-1. "You look at me, you say, 'My God, Eric, what are you, crazy?'" he recently told a tea party gathering in Montgomery County. "'How are you going to beat her with a couple hundred thousand versus a couple of million dollars?

In his recent TV campaign ad (its called "Drive" and it can be found on YouTube,) Congressman Frank Kratovil wants to be known as a man who is outstanding in his field, although instead of standing, Mr. Kratovil is seen driving though a field — a cornfield on the Eastern Shore. In this ad, Mr. Kratovil reveals that he actually reads the bills put before him for a vote. Congressman, it should come as no surprise that the good people of Maryland who sent you to Washington expected you to read them.

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Investment banker Jon S. Corzine, a political novice who spent a record $60 million on his Senate race, is Washington-bound. Corzine, who dipped into a $400 million personal fortune to buy television ads, was ahead of four-term Rep. Bob Franks by 50 percent to 47 percent, with 98 percent of precincts reporting. In his victory speech, Corzine promised "an America where every person has access to the American promise, just like my family and I have had." Corzine shattered the spending record for a Senate campaign held by Republican Michael Huffington, who spent $30 million in California six years ago and lost.

MILFORD, Conn. - Republican Phil Giordano's campaign for a U.S. Senate seat from Connecticut is symbolized by its most effective prop - a life-size cardboard cutout of his Democratic opponent, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman. "A lot of people are posing with it, taking pictures," said Giordano as he shook hands with commuters on a railroad platform one morning this week. For Giordano, the mayor of Waterbury, it's no joke. He's running against a popular but elusive incumbent who spends most days traipsing the country as Al Gore's running mate even as he's also seeking re-election to the Senate.

It's rare for an election to so clearly capture the changing nature of a community the way the race for Baltimore's 46th state Senate district does. The traditional blue collar communities around Baltimore's waterfront have, for years, been transforming into an enclave of young professionals, and each constituency has a representative in Tuesday's Democratic primary. On one side is the incumbent, Sen. George W. Della Jr., as old Baltimore as it gets. He has been in the Senate since the year his opponent was born, served on the City Council before that, and inherited his political machine from his father.