Md. Democrats Look to Seize Senate Race's New Spotlight

Montgomery County political neophyte and businessman Josh Rales is the only candidate who has begun an ad campaign in the expensive Washington media market; he is prepared to spend millions of dollars of his personal fortune on the race.

And there are 14 others on the ballot, including former Baltimore county executive Dennis Rasmussen and perennial socialist candidate A. Robert Kaufman.

Despite glaring stylistic differences among the candidates, no one has surfaced as someone with a highly distinctive set of ideas, and no one has launched a withering negative campaign. All the major Democratic candidates have voiced strong opposition to the war in Iraq, called for better access to affordable health care and demanded ethics reform on Capitol Hill.

"There's no conflict between these guys," Clements said.

Antipathy toward Washington has been a theme, most notably from Rales, the real estate mogul and former supporter of President Bush who has spent more than $2 million on a television advertising blitz that touts him as an outsider.

"I've seen your commercials," a firefighter told Rales as the candidate approached last week in an Olney parking lot that was literally blistering in the heat. But he was another undecided voter and said he had "to look at all the issues" when Rales asked for his support.

Lichtman, too, has tried to run an anti-establishment campaign but says he has found it a challenge to get his message to penetrate. He has increased his visibility somewhat by finding openings to criticize Cardin and Mfume, but he acknowledged in an interview last week, "To win this election, probably something more dramatic is needed."

Lichtman and Rales have announced plans for statewide bus tours that will start next week. And Lichtman says he'll be advertising his campaign on 20 to 25 billboards. But in a race that for months was overshadowed by a heated Democratic primary for governor -- a contest that ended abruptly with Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan's withdrawal in late June -- it has been hard for anyone to break out of the pack.

And for those trying to catch up to Cardin and Mfume, that could continue. The only scheduled televised debate, typically a prime opportunity for long-shot contenders to gain notice, was set up under rules that would allow only candidates with support from at least 15 percent of the electorate in independent polls. Right now, only Cardin and Mfume fit the description.

As the two front-runners move into the campaign's final five weeks, they will be following strategies as different as their speaking styles.

For Cardin, these weeks will be spent trying to reach the large pool of undecided voters, most of whom are white, through his television campaign, telephone calls and mailers.

"People are just now starting to get interested in the race. . . . Every indication we have is that my record will resonate with those undecided voters," he said.

For Mfume, the effort will focus more on trying to bring out those already inclined to support him. His strategists are, to some degree, counting on help from candidates in down-ballot races.

Isiah Leggett's campaign for Montgomery county executive, for instance, could increase the black vote that is the base of Mfume's support. And contested primaries for County Executive Jack B. Johnson and Rep. Albert R. Wynn could do the same in Prince George's.

John N. Bambacus, a former Republican state senator who teaches politics at Frostburg State University, called it a "reverse coattail effect" and said there is reason to believe that "some of these local elections could actually drive the outcome of the top of the ticket."

But the same effect could help Cardin as well. There are eight Democrats running for Cardin's former congressional seat, and the voters they are courting are most likely ones who have supported Cardin in the past.

Sandy Rovner, a Democratic activist who lives at Leisure World in Silver Spring, said there might be considerably more focus on the Senate race "if you had a good guy and a bum." But she said that after hearing from both Cardin and Mfume, people she knows consider the race a tossup.

"It's a real tough call," Rovner said. "Yes, Mfume has some personal baggage, we concede that. And yes, Cardin is not very flamboyant. But they both have been good congressmen and have been very solid Democratic votes.

"This one," she said, "is going to be hard."