Senate Seat

Alfred W. Redmer Jr., the former Republican state delegate and insurance commissioner, announced Wednesday his return to politics with a run for the Maryland Senate. Redmer's entry into the race escalates early campaigning in Baltimore County for the seat that's expected to be vacated by Republican Andrew P. Harris, who plans to run for Congress a second time. Republican Del. J.B. Jennings has filed papers to become a candidate. Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr., a Democrat, also is considering entering the race and recently put his Reisterstown home on the market to move to Cockeysville and establish residency in the 7th District, which includes sections of Baltimore and Harford counties.

A Prince George's County state legislator, C. Anthony Muse, announced Thursday that he will seek the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Maryland this year, challenging Sen. Ben Cardin's bid for a second term. Muse, an African-American pastor who has served in the Maryland Senate since 2007, said he is running because he feels the country is on the wrong track. "The average person is suffering," he said. He said he has had no dealings with Cardin, which he said demonstrates that the incumbent has not reached out to local leaders to assess the problems in the state.

WASHINGTON -- Alan L. Keyes, a conservative Republican who lost to Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, D-Md., three years ago, will now try to oust the state's other Democratic senator, Barbara A. Mikulski.Mr. Keyes, 41, a former United Nations official who heads TC non-profit group that monitors government spending, has filed his candidacy papers for the 1992 race and has scheduled a campaign kickoff for next Wednesday in Towson.Mr. Keyes said the public's dissatisfaction with Congress can change only through electing "better senators" who will stop the federal "spending spree."

Nancy Lee Murphy, a veteran Baltimore County Democratic legislator who served in Maryland's House of Delegates and Senate, died Dec. 30 of a heart attack at St. Agnes Hospital the day before her 82nd birthday. "It was certainly sad news to end the year with for the friends who knew Nancy. She was such a great family person," said former Harford County Executive Eileen Rehrmann, who had served with Ms. Murphy in the House of Delegates during the 1980s and remained a close friend. "During all her years in public life, she served her constituents well.

In yesterday's editions, The Sun incorrectly reported the position of Richard M. Cornwell, the Republican candidate for Maryland's 10th District Senate seat, on the abortion issue. In fact, Mr. Cornwell said he holds strong personal opinions against abortion but has yet to take a position on the issue during his campaign.Ellen R. Sauerbrey, an anti-abortion state delegate who was considered the Republicans' strongest potential candidate to run against abortion-rights supporter Janice Piccinini in the 10th District Senate race, said last night she would not run for the Senate seat.

Standing by a picnic table next to Lake Elkhorn in Columbia, Republican state Del. Martin G. Madden announced that he would run for the state Senate seat representing East Columbia, southern Howard County and Laurel.He said he hoped to surprise Democrats responsible for redrawing legislative districts, apparently to separate him from his strongest areas of support."It's an uphill race, but every race I've had has been uphill," said Mr. Madden, a 45-year-old insurance agent from Clarksville.

They have massed across the state, grabbing legislativ seats, upsetting a couple of county executives and capturing an entire congressional district. Now these well-heeled warriors are regrouping for an even bigger prize: the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Barbara A. Mikulski.More than 500 Republicans, self-confident from their electoral victories, gathered at a Linthicum hotel last week for the annual Lincoln Day Dinner. Gazing toward 1992, Joyce L. Terhes, the state GOP chairwoman, gave the assembled troops their marching orders.

Columbia resident James B. Kraft has resurfaced in a political race -- this time on a more local level.Mr. Kraft, the former chairman of the Howard County Democratic Central Committee, yesterday announced his candidacy for County Council in District 4 in West Columbia, about two months after he gave up a bid for the state Senate seat that includes that area."

CHICAGO - Democratic Sen. Roland Burris, appointed late last year to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, has informed Illinois lawmakers that he did not tell them the complete story about his contacts with close associates of Gov. Rod Blagojevich before he got the job. The admission came in a sworn affidavit filed quietly by Burris last week with the Illinois House, and it raises questions about the new senator's credibility as he begins to finish...

EASTON -- Former U.S. Labor Secretary William E. Brock is giving serious consideration to challenging Democrat Paul S. Sarbanes for his Senate seat next year, Republican Party sources said here yesterday."

A potent Republican punch knocked Democrats from power in the House but largely spared Maryland incumbents in Tuesday's midterm voting. As part of that national trend, Maryland's most closely watched House contest saw Republican state Sen. Andy Harris defeat incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil in the 1st District. Nearly complete returns showed Harris doing considerably better on the Eastern Shore than in 2008, when he lost in the historically Republican district by less than 3,000 votes.

Dodging raindrops Thursday night, the incumbent senator sped from door to door in a South Baltimore neighborhood. "I'm George Della," he said at one door. "Keep me in mind on election day. " Then he was off to the next. A few miles south in Westport his young upstart of an opponent, Bill Ferguson, was leading a group of supporters in the same activity. "We've had the same senator for 27 years," he said. "I don't think he's pushing hard enough. " In a city where most incumbents face little or no opposition at the polls, the contest in Baltimore's 46th district is shaping up to be the most dynamic legislative race.

Del., Jim Mathias, the former mayor of Ocean City, filed paperwork this week to run for the state Senate — a Democratic bid for a long-held Republican seat on the Eastern Shore. Republican Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus, who has represented the area for nearly two decades, is retiring. District 38 includes Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties and is represented by Del. Norman H. Conway, a Democrat who leads the House Appropriations Committee, Republican Del. D. Page Elmore and Mathias, who was appointed in 2006 to fill the seat of the late Bennett Bozman.

As expected, former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is running to reclaim his old job in Annapolis. This announcement has generated a wave of euphoria among Republicans optimistic about Mr. Ehrlich's chances. I remember the giddiness some Republicans felt about Ellen Sauerbrey's prospects after then-Governor Parris Glendening's approval ratings dipped below 50 percent in October 1998. I also remember how shocked we all were when the networks called the race for Mr. Glendening promptly at 8 p.m. on Election Day. While I believe that Republicans should feel enthusiasm about Mr. Ehrlich's campaign, this euphoria is dangerous.

S tanding in the expansive basement family room of a Fulton mansion, Dr. Eric S. Wargotz explained why he thinks 2010 will be so kind to Republicans that he's got a chance to replace four- term U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, arguably Maryland's most popular Democrat. "I'm running because I believe I can do it," said Wargotz, 53, a first-term Queen Anne's County commissioner. "I see an opening here. Look at Scott Brown," he said, referring to the once-obscure Massachusetts Republican state senator catapulted to national celebrity by winning a special election for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's Senate seat.

- The primary election that was expected to launch a political battle in President Barack Obama's home state instead left Democrats and Republicans squabbling among themselves Wednesday over governor's races that were virtually tied. Gov. Pat Quinn claimed victory in the Democratic primary over Comptroller Dan Hynes, despite a margin of less than 1 percent. Though Obama called Quinn to offer his congratulations, Hynes has refused to concede. On the Republican side, Sen. Bill Brady led by just a few hundred votes over Sen. Kirk Dillard.

WASHINGTON -- It was big news when the Clinton administration punished a disloyal Alabama senator recently by moving 90 NASA jobs from Huntsville, Ala., to Houston.Far less attention, however, was paid to the winner in the deal -- Texas Sen. Bob Krueger, who rushed to endorse the White House windfall for his state.The obscure Texas senator has become the object of President Clinton's political desire, and for good reason. Mr. Krueger is in a tough fight to hold the Democrats' 57th Senate seat this spring in a special election that also looms as a test of Mr. Clinton's popularity in a major state.

MONROE, Mich. -- Spencer Abraham, the Republican nominee for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Don Riegle, was telling some employees at the National Galvanizing plant here the other day about how voters often greet him around the state. "People ask, 'Are you already a congressman?'" he said. "I say, 'No,' and they say, 'OK, I may vote for you.' "That comment, Abraham said, reflected the low public esteem in which Congress is held these days. It was a convenient point for him, inasmuch as his Democratic opponent is Bob Carr, who has served 18 years in the House of Representatives.

Smiles were few, but there were plenty of scowls Tuesday night on the usually smug faces of MSNBC's fervently liberal show hosts. Chris Matthews hasn't looked this unhappy since his one-time boss, Tip O'Neill, passed from this mortal coil. Nora O'Donnell, network reporter and Obama enthusiast, was unable to muster even a trace of a grin throughout the evening, as it became clear that the late polling in Massachusetts' special election was accurate and that upstart Republican state senator Scott Brown was going to beat Democrat Martha Coakley and take the U.S. Senate seat held by a Kennedy for almost all of the last 58 years.