Sebastian Sassi

The Libertarian Party of Maryland may not win any elections in November, but its victory is in its full complement of candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives--the most of any third-party effort in Maryland in at least 30 years. The party is fielding eight candidates for eight seats. "First time ever," Lorenzo Gaztanaga says as he and his wife, Susan, stroll purposefully toward the City Café. Lorenzo, candidate for the 2nd district seat occupied since 2002 by C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersber ... [MORE]

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United States Congress

With the national zeitgeist appearing to favor Democrats, especially the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, Baltimore's incumbent delegation to Washington would seem to have little fear of challengers in this Democratic stronghold as the Nov. 4 election approaches. The incumbents, all Democrats--U.S. representatives Dutch Ruppersberger (2nd District), John Sarbanes (3rd), and Elijah Cummings (7th)--are household names in the Baltimore area and won easy primaries in February. Their opponen ... [MORE]

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Jeff Humphries, Www.Hellbenders.Org

You know the drill. On Nov. 4 you'll head down to the polling place, cast your vote for president, maybe weigh in on the slots, and then . . . well, then there's all this other stuff. The city bond issues--$125 million worth of them. The names are familiar--the zoo, for instance, wants $300,000 dollars, according to the ballot, "for the acquisition of land or property; and for the construction, erection, renovation, alteration, reconstruction, installation, improvement and repair of building, s ... [MORE]

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Now that Sheila Dixon is the duly elected mayor of Baltimore, the time is ripe to see how she pulled off her hands-down victory. The money raised and spent on her campaign between Jan. 18 and Oct. 24 is available online, and the question is: How best to analyze the data? Something that happened in the middle of the election season gave the Count an idea. Political donors' addresses were taken off the state's online campaign-finance database briefly this summer. As one election official put it ... [MORE]

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On paper, Board of Estimates meetings look like tedious affairs. The agenda, some 70 pages of it, lists contracts up for renewal, resolutions to support local charities in their bids for state grant money, and people to be hired for government jobs. In practice, the five-member board runs through the items quickly. Last Wednesday's meeting took only a few minutes, as the five-member board approved every item in one go (with some minor modifications). Afterward, City Comptroller Joan Pratt, who ... [MORE]

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www.baltimorecitycouncil.com

The race for City Council president appears to be the most competitive this election, with incumbent Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who is endorsed by Gov. Martin O'Malley and Mayor Sheila Dixon, running neck and neck with Michael Sarbanes, son of former U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, who has been endorsed by the city's police union and lots of people with money. Sarbanes has the superstar political pedigree, along with a reputation for slogging it out in the trenches of politics and policy. Rawlings- ... [MORE]

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We asked all the candidates for mayor, city council president and district council seats to fill out a short questionnaire on their positions across a variety of issues we consider crucial. Their submissions were not edited for grammar, spelling or sentence structure. Mayor Sheila Dixon A. Robert Kaufman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. Mike Schaefer City Council President Kenneth N. Harris Sr. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Michael Sarbanes Charles Ulysses Smith 1st District ... [MORE]

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Aug. 30 League of Women Voters 9th District Candidates Forum 7-9 p.m., Vivian T. Thomas Medical Academy, 100 N. Calhoun St., (410) 377-7738, free. Hear why the candidates seeking the 9th District City Council seat think they deserve your vote. Sept. 11 League of Women Voters 14th District Candidates Forum 6-7:45 p.m., Waverly Library, 400 E. 33rd St., (410) 377-7738, free. Hear why the candidates seeking the 14th District City Council seat think they deserve your vote. ... [MORE]

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www.baltimorecitycouncil.com

"We've accomplished quite a bit in . . . the city and in the 14th District," says incumbent City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who for the past three years has represented her district on the council. "But there's a lot more to be done." The 14th District, located north of 25th Street and south of Cold Spring Lane, contains neighborhoods such as Waverly, Ednor Gardens-Lakeside, and portions of Hampden, Charles Village, and Guilford. The area has enjoyed above-average prosperity for Baltimo ... [MORE]

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Jefferson Jackson Steele

Emmett Guyton is cruising through the 13th District looking for votes. As he drives, he points out the problems areas--corners where young men loiter in front of abandoned houses--gradually giving way to the neatly manicured lawns of vote-rich Berea and Belair-Edison, where he has been concentrating his efforts. Down one street he spots a familiar face--Robert Stokes, one of his opponents for the 13th District City Council seat--and flags him down. They greet each other like old friends. "C ... [MORE]

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Edward Reisinger and his family own a tiny little bar in Morrell Park called Good Times, where amusement devices line the narrow walls. Reisinger, a Democrat, is the 10th District city councilman and chairs the Land Use and Transportation Committee, which in April recommended expanding the presence of such regulated devices in neighborhood businesses like his. The machines are known to be used for illegal gambling, yet the Baltimore Licensed Beverage Association, which represents bars and othe ... [MORE]

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Courtesy The Candidate

Nine candidates, espousing various philosophies and credentials for improving life in Baltimore, have crowded the ballot in the race for the 11th District City Council seat. The seat is being vacated by Keiffer Mitchell Jr. (D), who is running to unseat Mayor Sheila Dixon in the Sept. 11 primary. All the candidates are running as Democrats, which means the vote in this district is likely to be split, making for a race that could belong to anyone. The 11th District, located in the center of ... [MORE]

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Aug. 23 League of Women Voters 4th District Candidates Forum 6:15-7:45 p.m., Govans Library, 5714 Bellona Ave., (410) 377-7738, free. Get to know the candidates running to represent the City Council’s 4th District. League of Women Voters 5th District Candidates Forum 6:30-8:30 p.m., St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 4403 Pimlico Road, (410) 377-7738, free. Get to know the candidates running to represent the City Council’s 5th District. League of Women Voters 13th Distr ... [MORE]

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Aug. 16 League of Women Voters 1st District Candidates Forum 6:15-7:45 p.m., Southeast Anchor Library, 3601 Eastern Ave., (410) 377-7738, free. Get to know the candidates running to represent the City Council’s 1st District. HARBEL City Council President Forum 7-9 p.m., Good Samaritan Hospital, Parker Room, 5601 Loch Raven Blvd., (410) 444-2100, free. All Baltimoreans can come together to learn about the candidates for City Council president at this forum put on by the HARBEL Com ... [MORE]

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Just like every other Maryland politician, City Councilman Keiffer Mitchell Jr. (D-11th District) this week had to report his latest campaign-finance data, covering financial activity since Jan. 17, to the state Board of Elections. Mitchell Jr.'s new numbers are more eagerly awaited than most because on Aug. 2 his father resigned in controversy as his campaign treasurer. Mitchell Jr., who is one of seven Democratic challengers taking on Mayor Sheila Dixon, encouraged Dr. Keiffer J. Mitchell Sr ... [MORE]

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Photos by Jefferson Jackson Steele

The city's 12th District, located in the center of Baltimore, stretches east of I-83 as far south as the harbor and as far north as 30th Street. The district is mostly made up of blighted areas, such as Barclay (one of the deadliest neighborhoods in the city so far this year), Johnstown Square (home to a number of abandoned public-housing units), and the desolate Old Town Mall. But along its edges are some prime bits of city real estate, including Johns Hopkins Hospital and medical campus to t ... [MORE]

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PHOTO COURTESY THE CANDIDATE

A reporter driving east on West Pratt Street spies a Baltimore City Rat Rub-Out van, driven by one of the crews paid by taxpayers to kill rats and educate people about their part in the war, turning north onto Fulton Avenue. Rat Rub-Out used to have on its crews John Holmes, a 7th District City Council candidate who unsuccessfully ran for the same office in the 2003 Democratic primary. The reporter gathers that Holmes goes by the nickname "Johnny B," which appears in the e-mail address he supp ... [MORE]

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When asked how old she is City Councilwoman Agnes Welch demurs, saying only that she is in her 80s. In social settings, it can be considered bad form to ask a woman her age, but in the race for the 9th District City Council seat, Welch's age is a central issue. Her challengers suggest that she is too old and out of touch to represent a district plagued by poverty and crime. "It's time for her to step aside and let the younger people come and deal with it, because the situation's a lot diff ... [MORE]

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Jefferson Jackson Steele

Rochelle "Rikki" Spector wants more people to live in Baltimore City--171,000 more people, to be exact. And the 5th District city councilwoman is proud of the $18 million in public money she helped bring to Park Heights to help make it a more attractive place for people and their employers to move. "Jobs have to sleep somewhere," Spector says. But Spector, who with 30 years on the City Council and no primary opposition is the longest-serving elected politician in state history, doesn't ... [MORE]

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Incumbent mayors run for re-election in Baltimore the same way they do everywhere else: by using friends' money and resources to try to make magic happen. And it usually works. William Donald Schaefer in the 1970s and '80s had an unstoppable electoral machine, and it propelled him to the governor's office in 1986. Kurt L. Schmoke's campaign committee was also legendary, getting him re-elected twice before he stepped down in 1999. Martin O'Malley claimed the open-seat mayoral race that year, us ... [MORE]

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