State Senate

Republican James Cooper, undaunted by his 7,000-vote loss to state Sen.William H. Amoss in 1986, is back to challenge the two-term Democratic incumbent for the District 35 state senate seat Tuesday.Cooper, of Belcamp, said he thinks he has a better shot at winning in Tuesday's general election because he now has greater name recognition and he has campaigned more heavily than he did four years ago.The candidate, 46, works as a quality assurance engineer at Westinghouse Electric Corp. in Hunt Valley, Baltimore County.

Howard County Councilman Allan H. Kittleman said he has made the difficult decision to seek his late father's seat in the state Senate. Kittleman's father, state Sen. Robert H. Kittleman, battled leukemia most of the year and died Sept. 11. Despite his illness, the 78-year-old senator was expected to continue his term this winter in what would have been his 22nd year in the General Assembly. The 9th District is heavily Republican and covers western Howard County and a portion of southern Carroll.

Maryland's House of Delegates has struck a blow for tax equity by eliminating a capital gains loophole that lets the rich get away with paying little or no state taxes. It is an advantage that 45 other states have eliminated but which Maryland retains because of the hospitable attitude toward this rich-person's loophole in the state Senate.Will the Senate again this year defeat efforts to close this loophole that is costing the state and its subdivisions $55 million a year? Will that body, led by budget chairman Laurence Levitan of wealthy Montgomery County, come to the defense of those earning $200,000 or more a year?

Scores of Jack Cade's closest friends paid a tidy bundle last night to fete the state senator in Baltimore.The $500-a-ticket reception at the Harbor View Marina and Yacht Club drew more than 250 guests by 7:30 p.m. and raised at least $125,000 for Mr. Cade's campaign war chest, an organizer said.All of which raises the question: What office is the man running for?Sen. John A. Cade, the curmudgeonly Republican from Anne Arundel County, isn't saying.Last night's event, the biggest fund-raiser of his 20-year career in the state Senate, was about giving him options for 1998, Mr. Cade said.

WHEN CONTROVERSIAL bills drove the state Senate toward chaos, Clarence W. Blount could restore order by simply standing. He had a rare dignity, the sensibility of a poet and a preacher's facility with the Bible. And his resonant bass voice was soothing. Senator Blount, who died Friday at 81, could always direct his colleagues toward consensus. They knew he had no personal agenda. His ambition ran to doing his job: senator, committee chairman and Democratic majority leader. In an age of direct action against an inflexible system unwilling to grant equal rights to African-Americans, Senator Blount was criticized occasionally for choosing an insider's role.

The Maryland House of Delegates overwhelmingly approved a proposal yesterday to ban smoking in most indoor public establishments, with supporters applauding vigorously after passage of a measure they said marks a step toward mitigating the health consequences of secondhand smoke. The final vote was 98-40. "Public health has to take precedence over profit," said Del. Dereck E. Davis, a Prince George's County Democrat. Detractors said the bill would hurt small businesses and veterans, who gather at American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars clubs across the state.

Even in this real estate market, a for-sale sign can create a buzz. A "STUNNING/ELEGANT" 6BR, 31/2 BA house for sale in Reisterstown has people talking. It's not the "updated" kitchen that's generating interest. Nor the "lush landscaping." It's the political intrigue. Jim Smith, the term-limited Baltimore County exec, is selling the house and moving to an apartment in Andy Harris' state Senate district, where he'll mull a run for that seat. Smith and his wife, whose four children are grown, put their house up for sale two weeks ago. "My wife and I are planning to downsize," Smith said.

The youngest member of Maryland's state senate sent email to constituents Tuesday saying that he was "embarrassed" by the so-called "Doomsday" budget that passed in the General Assembly with his support. Sen. Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, said that he cast his green vote on "what we believed" was a compromise spending plan that included a "Doomsday" clause. The budget that passed closes a roughly $1 billion revenue shortfall mostly with cuts, firing hundreds of state workers and making deep cuts in education and other Democratic priorities.

EASTON -- Former Maryland Republican lawmaker Harry T. Phoebus Jr.'s attempt to regain a seat in the General Assembly after a 25-year absence failed last night despite the backing of his home county's Central Committee and the reported willingness of Gov. William Donald Schaefer to pick him if the selection fell to the governor.Republican central committees from Wicomico and Worcester counties voted to send former Crisfield Mayor Charles McClenahan to a House of Delegates seat vacated with the appointment of J. Lowell Stoltzfus to the state Senate.

TURNING POINT: A CANDIDATE,A STATE, AND A NATIONCOME OF AGE.Jimmy Carter.Times Books.223 pages. $22.After five tries, Jimmy Carter finally has gotten the hang of book writing. In fact, he now has produced one of the best books ever by a former president.His first book, "Keeping Faith," was a memoir of his administration, but it was very much like its author, overly serious and preachy. The next three weren't all that much better, although Mr. Carter's writing improved with each book.This time, Mr. Carter has done it right, producing a book that captures the spirit and feel of the South in the early 1960s as few others have.