Teachers Union to Endorse Candidates

· Del. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. for retiring Sen. Sharon M. Grosfeld's seat in District 18, and, for delegate in that district, Jeff Waldstreicher , the legislative chair of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland.

· Mike Lenett , a lawyer who worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee, for retiring Sen. Leonard H. Teitelbaum's District 19 seat. For delegate, community activist Melodye Berry and Roger Manno , legislative director for the Congressional Black Caucus.

· Heather Mizeur , former director of domestic policy for Sen. John Kerry, and Tom Hucker , the former head of Progressive Maryland, for delegate in District 19.

· Saqib Ali, a party activist and software engineer, for delegate in District 39.

Courthouse Compatriots

Two of them are running unopposed, and the other two are widely perceived as the front-runners in their races.

But Montgomery County Deputy State's Attorney John McCarthy , Sheriff Raymond M. Kight , Deputy Clerk Loretta E. Knight and Register of Wills Joseph M. Griffin , all Democrats, decided this week to brand their races under one slogan: "Your Courthouse Team."

"This is the best-run courthouse in Maryland," McCarthy said Tuesday afternoon during the announcement of the alliance. "Ladies and gentlemen, that is not by accident."

McCarthy, a veteran prosecutor, is running for state's attorney now that his boss, Douglas F. Gansler , is running for attorney general.

McCarthy will run against Tom Fox (D), who previously worked as a gang prosecutor in California. Kight, who has been in office almost 20 years and is the county's longest-serving sheriff, wants to keep his job for another four years. He is running against Robert Moroney (D), a retired sergeant with the Maryland State Police.