Opposed to the Iraq Invasion, Van Hollen Nevertheless Finds Himself With an Antiwar Challenger

The Duncan campaign says the claim is based on media reports that Ehrlich opposed assault weapons bans proposed in the 2004 and 2006 legislative sessions. No one is suggesting that Ehrlich championed a ban. But in a letter sent yesterday to television stations in Baltimore -- the only media market in which the ad is airing -- Ehrlich campaign manager Bo Harmon said Duncan's claim overreaches.

"If you plan to air this ad, we demand that you refuse to do so," Harmon's letter says. "The statement in the ad is patently false, and goes well beyond the normal rhetoric of a political campaign. . . . We strenuously call upon you to do the right thing."

Duncan aides stood by the ad yesterday. "This bullying and threatening letter from the man who once ran ads questioning former Georgia U.S. senator and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland's patriotism strains the bounds of credibility to the breaking point," said Duncan campaign manager Scott Arceneaux . "And nowhere in his long-winded letter does Bo Harmon say that Governor Ehrlich actually supports the assault weapons ban."

A Pack of Attacks Over PACs

Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin 's many rivals for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination are campaigning as outside agents of change who have sworn off campaign contributions from political action committees.

Among them, American University professor Allan J. Lichtman has called on Cardin to give back the $40,000 received from Constellation Energy Group and its employees and to "join in solidarity with the consumers of Maryland" who are outraged over rising electricity rates. Constellation is the parent company of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., whose customers are bracing for a 72 percent increase in their bills in July.

Cardin spokesman Oren Shur said the congressman has no plans to return the money -- only $4,000 of which comes directly from the company's PAC.

"The people of Maryland judge Ben Cardin on his principles and his record of effective leadership," Shur said.

Former congressman and NAACP leader Kweisi Mfume is another candidate who tells voters that he's not taking PAC money. But campaign finance reports show he received more than $26,000 from such committees and hundreds of thousands more during his 10 years in Congress.

Mfume said he's given up PAC money this time around, and he makes a distinction between donations from labor union groups (okay) and contributions from corporate PACs (not okay).

So what about the $5,000 check that slipped in from Amalgamated Life Insurance Co.'s PAC?

"If it got in, it can easily go out," he said.

O'Malley vs. Simms: It's a Sequel

This year's race for governor is not the first time that Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and Baltimore lawyer Stuart O. Simms have squared off.

Simms, who this month became the running mate of O'Malley's rival in the Democratic primary, Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, is serving, at least for now, as an attorney in a high-profile lawsuit against O'Malley by a former police commissioner.

Kevin P. Clark was fired in 2004 as Baltimore's top police official after O'Malley decided that domestic abuse allegations against the commissioner, though unsubstantiated, had become a distraction.

Clark filed a lawsuit seeking $120 million and reinstatement to his job. A circuit judge dismissed the matter last year, but Clark is appealing.

Duncan spokeswoman Jody Couser spoke in uncharacteristic legalese when asked whether candidate Simms would continue to work on the case. "The case is on appeal," Couser said. "Mr. Simms is one of the attorneys of record. As with other matters on which he is engaged, a transition is expected."