State Party

THE DEMOCRATS rocked Nov. 3, pushing Gov. Parris N. Glendening to a remarkable 12-point win over Ellen R. Sauerbrey in spite of himself.A lot of reasons have been given for the GOP's trouncing, but the indisputable key to the Democrats' romp was their ability to turn out the vote.Many bows have been taken -- some deserved and some not -- but the party should trot on stage for a last round of applause for its multilayered drive in the final days of the campaign.Three years ago, more than 200 worried Maryland Democrats met at Hood College in Frederick to reassess the party's mission and message, still smarting from the Republican gains in 1990 and 1994 in county executive and legislative races.

WASHINGTON -- A case on campaign spending by political parties, just heard by the Supreme Court, has reformers worried that a concept called ''express advocacy'' could provide a major loophole for avoiding long-established federal limits.The concept, invoked by the Colorado Republican Party to justify exceeding a federal spending limit for a Senate race, holds that an unlimited amount of money can be spent as long as it is not used to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate.

NEW YORK -- Sen. Bob Dole surged on in his drive for the Republican presidential nomination here yesterday, routing his remaining rivals, Steve Forbes and Patrick J. Buchanan, with a possible sweep of all 93 delegates at stake in New York's primary.In the year's first contest with only three candidates competing, delegates pledged to Mr. Dole were winning 63 percent of the vote, compared with 24 percent for Mr. Forbes' slates and 13 percent for Mr. Buchanan's, according to exit polls of 1,000 voters by Voter News Service, a cooperative of the Associated Press and the television networks.

NORFOLK, Va. -- Eight years ago, he spurned the Republican Party and voted against Robert H. Bork for the Supreme Court. Two years ago, he rejected the party nominee for lieutenant governor, Michael P. Farris, who lost. And in last year's Senate race, he supported an independent, rather than the Republican nominee, Oliver L. North. Mr. North lost, too.To be sure, Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia is no longer the favorite son of many state Republicans. But this year, as he gears up to run for a fourth term in 1996, antipathy toward him has reached new heights, threatening to fracture the state party and deliver the seat to a Democrat for the first time in 30 years.

As Marilynn J. Phillips sees it, the party of inclusion is excluding her -- and other wheelchair users -- from its county campaign headquarters in Westminster.For the second election year in a row, the county's Democratic Central Committee has leased a Main Street site that is inaccessible to wheelchair users, the Hampstead disabilities-rights activist claimed in complaints filed this week with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Maryland Human Relations Commission."I believe I have been discriminated against," Ms. Phillips said in the complaints.

Ralph T. Gies, the Democratic nominee for the 1st District congressional seat who has been shunned by the state party for his conservative views, found some support closer to home.The three Democratic nominees for the House of Delegates from District 33 -- David G. Boschert, Michael Canning and Marsha G. Perry -- yesterday announced their endorsement of Mr. Gies, a resident of Gambrills and the district.Mr. Gies' three fellow Democrats from western Anne Arundel County were reacting to a statement made by Ralph Gervasio, acting executive director of the Maryland State Democratic Party, who said the party would not support him in his bid to unseat incumbent Republican Wayne T. Gilchrest.

It's not a lot of fun being head of the state Democratic Party these days. Not that Vera P. Hall, its first black head, is complaining. The first few months were exhilarating. Last November, she and Maryland Democrats helped achieve Bill Clinton's biggest victory anywhere, his native Arkansas excepted. Mrs. Hall and cohorts won kudos. The party was to reap a special financial reward from the Democratic National Committee.This summer things came a bit undone. Mrs. Hall, to her dismay, discovered an unwanted inheritance from her ousted predecessor, Nathan Landow: $70,000 in unpaid debts she said he had unilaterally incurred -- and almost nothing in the bank.

NEW YORK -- Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole was at his quipster best here the other night at the annual Republican State Committee dinner. With New York Sen. Alfonse D'Amato at his side, Dole was asked what he thought about D'Amato's statement that he may seek the GOP nomination to run against Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo next year."

Maryland Republicans are unusually upbeat these days. They can foresee the GOP sun finally rising next year. The outlook, as they see it: a realistic shot for governor and attorney general.Is this the latest pipe dream of a state GOP that remains a shell of a viable opposition party? Or is it the start of a vigorous %J campaign to take advantage of changing circumstances?Judging from the state party's spring convention, there's more going on than wishful thinking. A straw poll of GOP officials pushed one candidate, Anne Arundel County Executive Robert Neall, closer to a decision on running for governor: he was the overwhelming favorite among party leaders.

Maryland's Democratic Party, already struggling to weather a severe money crunch, now finds itself embroiled in a bitter war of words between its current and former leaders.The latest shot was fired by ex-chairman Nathan Landow, who in a letter to members of the state Democratic Central Committee has called for the ouster of his successor, Vera P. Hall."It is up to you and your fellow central committee members to get involved and take the initiative to immediately elect new leadership for the party," Mr. Landow said in a letter dated Nov. 15. "In the private sector incompetence and mismanagement are rejected and it also should be rejected by our state party."

The Maryland Republican Party and the state elections board reached an agreement Friday that requires the strapped GOP to repay at least $2,000 a month to Michael S. Steele's campaign account, which state officials contend made an improper contribution. The parties had planned to finalize an agreement last week, but Jared DeMarinis, director of campaign finance at the State Board of Elections, said 11th-hour revisions proposed by the party were "unacceptable." Lawyers for both sides spent the past week in negotiations.

An agreement the Maryland Republican Party struck with the State Board of Elections unraveled in recent days, leaving uncertain how it will resolve what state officials contend was a violation of campaign finance laws. According to elections officials, former Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele's campaign account made an improper $75,000 contribution to the Republican State Central Committee by covering legal fees the party incurred during a redistricting fight several years ago. The party, which has run into financial difficulties, agreed last week to incrementally repay the money to Steele, now the national GOP chairman.

Severn crash injures 10 in 2 vehicles Ten people, four of them children, were involved in a two-vehicle crash Sunday night in Severn. One of the adults, a 22-year-old man, was transported by helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma, with what Anne Arundel Fire Department Battalion Chief Matt Tobia called "life-threatening injuries." Two other men, ages 21 and 28, were taken there with "serious" but not life-threatening injuries, Tobia said. Two of the children, a 9-year-old boy and a 3-year-old boy, were taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital for further evaluation, also with serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Simmering tensions among Maryland Republicans have boiled over into a public brawl with leading GOP officers and members of the General Assembly openly clashing with Chairman James Pelura over the party's future. The disagreements - dubbed Pelurapalooza by the popular conservative blog Red Maryland - escalated this week when state party officers called for a meeting with Pelura to explain his actions, including why he sought the resignation of the party's executive director, Justin Ready, on Monday.

DENVER - An actor from The Wire stood next to Maryland's comptroller for two hours, shaking hands with party guests. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. put his arm around Maryland's attorney general at a Cajun restaurant filled with Marylanders and said his father would be proud. The Democratic National Convention is a place for ambitious politicians to punctuate their prominence by hosting evening receptions with open bars and savory appetizers, or a breakfast for scores of their friends. Big-name guests are part of the draw.

WASHINGTON -- Florida Democrats, searching for a way out of their mess of a presidential contest, unveiled a detailed plan yesterday for rerunning the state's primary election by mail. There was one big problem: Hardly anyone who mattered liked the idea. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton rejected it - one of the few things the candidates have agreed on lately. Florida's entire House Democratic delegation panned it. Even the plan's architect - Karen Thurman, the state party chairwoman - acknowledged there were enormous obstacles to carrying it out. Welcome to another day in the life of the Democratic Party, where a scheduling dispute over two primary elections is threatening to turn what could be a bumper crop political year into a bust.

WASHINGTON -- The Democratic National Committee voted yesterday to strip Florida of all its presidential convention delegates, threatening to leave the state without a vote for the party's 2008 nominee unless it delays the date of its presidential primary election. The ultimatum marks the most drastic attempt yet by party leaders to impose order among squabbling states that have sought to elbow their balloting closer to the front of the traditional election cycle. The DNC rules and bylaws committee voted overwhelmingly to give Florida's state party 30 days to push back its primary contest by at least a week from Jan. 29, 2008, or risk losing accreditation for its 210 delegates to the party's nominating convention next summer in Denver.

The Maryland Republican Party, reeling from the loss of the governor's mansion, is nearly broke, according to a copy of its financial statement obtained by The Sun. The state GOP treasurer's report from July 31 shows the party had $4,615 in cash and $50,500 in debt. Because of lackluster fundraising, the party operated at a $103,536 deficit in the first six months of the year. A report from the party's accountants shows that funding from major donors has dried up, and that the party's major annual fundraising event, the Red, White and Blue Dinner, netted $15,572, less than 10 percent of the amount the party had been counting on. The poor fundraising comes at a time when conservative and moderate wings of the party are fighting over whether the party should take sides in state Sen. Andrew P. Harris' primary challenge to Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, a stark contrast to the unity and strength that the party displayed during former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s term.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has picked a former Baltimore aide and prominent adviser to several African-American organizations to become the next chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party. "I'm a behind-the-scenes kind of guy," said Michael E. Cryor, 60, of Baltimore, who was co-chairman of O'Malley's "Believe" campaign when he was mayor. "This is a little bit of a change for me. I'm looking forward to the challenge." African-American leaders have expressed concern about the state party's commitment to blacks in recent elections.

The Maryland Republican Party, battered by severe losses in November's election, meets today to choose new leadership as members struggle over how to avoid slipping into another 30-year stretch of political futility. The retirement of party Chairman John Kane after a four-year term, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s failure to be re-elected, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele's defeat in his run for the U.S. Senate and the losses of several incumbent legislators have exposed a rift between those party faithful who see the need for no more than minor adjustments and others who blame the defeats on a leadership that needs a total overhaul.