State catches a rare case of ballot buzz

Campaign ads and visits ratchet up enthusiasm

By David Nitkin | Sun reporter

February 10, 2008

Arthur Moore says the primaries have been the main topic of conversation at work lately. (Sun photo by David Nitkin / February 8, 2008)

The halls of the Baltimore City schools headquarters vibrated with election chatter last week. When would Sen. Barack Obama appear in Baltimore? Was Sen. Hillary Clinton stronger on issues?

"We've been talking about it all day ... the possibility of having an African-American or a woman in the White House," said Arthur Moore, 52, a schools administrator. "I'm excited, because it's a new day for us."

In offices, coffee joints, barber shops and college dormitories across the state, discussion has raged in the past week about one of the most compelling elections in decades.

Maryland, along with Virginia and Washington, is experiencing a rare dose of presidential election relevance. With Democrats Obama and Clinton deadlocked after Super Tuesday, votes cast here this week will be closely watched and painstakingly dissected. Among Republicans, Sen. John McCain looks all but certain to be the nominee, but still needs to mend fences with the more conservative members of his party, while former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is still campaigning.

Energy is certain to rise before the primaries. Television advertisements are jamming airwaves, and phone calls are going out to voters. Obama has scheduled rallies in College Park and Baltimore tomorrow and is expected to draw tens of thousands of supporters. Clinton, too, will be making local appearances, including in Bowie tonight and Towson tomorrow. Former President Bill Clinton will barnstorm through Maryland today.

Moore, the educator, had been wavering between Clinton and Obama until former Bill Clinton made comments interpreted by many as racially insensitive while campaigning in South Carolina. Those remarks pushed Moore into the Obama camp. "He seems to be for all people," Moore said.

The enthusiasm for voting this year is not universal, however. The engrossing contests and ubiquitous pledges of change have not wiped away the cynicism that many harbor about politics. The competitiveness of the Republican race plunged after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney dropped out last week.

State elections administrator Linda H. Lamone predicted that roughly 35 percent of registered Maryland voters will come out to the polls, a healthy figure but not the record-breaking turnout some other states have experienced.

During the 1992 presidential primaries, 45 percent of Democrats turned out to decide among Bill Clinton, Paul Tsongas, Jerry Brown and others; 39 percent of Republicans chose between George Bush and Patrick J. Buchanan. Turnout has generally been lower since then, although 43 percent of Republicans voted in the 2000 presidential primary.

Elections officials in Baltimore, Carroll and Harford counties predicted average turnout figures.

"Most people are dissatisfied with all their choices," said Dennis Holston, cutting hair last week at Towne Barbers in downtown Bel Air. "It's the lesser of two evils. That's what I hear."

Janet Ruth said she finds "a lot of interest" in the presidential race among her customers at Buy the Cup, a Bel Air coffee shop next door to Towne Barbers.

"I ask people, just because I like to find out what's on people's minds," said Ruth, 55. What she's heard of late, she said, is almost universal distaste for Hillary Clinton.

"Tell me what she's bringing to the table," said Ruth, who, unlike many women voters, said she has no intention of supporting Clinton based on gender or a need to break a glass ceiling. "It's the issues that are the issues, not the sex or the color of the person," Ruth said.

But Clinton nonetheless enjoys widespread support in Maryland.

Tracie Hovermale, 49, of Davidsonville brought her 16-year-old daughter, Kristin, to the "Women for Hillary" rally in Annapolis last week. Though she did some local campaigning for Kerry in 2004, she said she is enthusiastic and feels a sense of urgency this time around.

"It's exciting because we need to move out from where we've been the last eight years," Hovermale said.

With the economy faltering and some neighbors struggling to hang onto their homes, she's eager for new leadership. Hovermale is also concerned about the war in Iraq and about America's standing in the world. Her daughter's going overseas next semester, "and I hope she'll be welcome."

The campaigns have been working to build enthusiasm.

Huckabee appeared on the University of Maryland College Park campus yesterday, firing up younger voters such as Andrew Tress, a 20-year-old junior from Harford County.