With three days left before Tuesday's election, the two candidates for governor are running on fumes -- bus fumes, that is.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening and Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey began touring the state yesterday in tour buses full of supporters, the first day in what is to be a long weekend of campaign stops at senior citizen homes, factories, festivals and anywhere else unsuspecting voters might linger.

"I'd be honored to have your vote," Glendening said to those who admitted to still being undecided. "We need every vote we can."

Likewise, Sauerbrey pitched her tax cut plan to Marylanders, calling on her followers to vote for her -- and to push others to do the same.

"Pull out all the stops. Turn on all the energy you have over the next few days," she told supporters at a rally in Frederick. "We're going to win this election because people like you are going to be working the phones, getting out the vote."

Glendening began the day at 6 a.m., circling Sauerbrey's home base of Baltimore County counter-clockwise, from Bethlehem Steel and Sparrows Point to Parkville, Pikesville and Catonsville. He spent the afternoon in Prince George's County, his home turf, for an afternoon of hand-shaking and sign-waving.

Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend had intended to campaign with the governor, but left the bus mid-morning after receiving news that her father-in-law, L. Raymond Townsend, had died.

Buoyed by recent polls that show him ahead, Glendening appeared to enjoy being on the stump yesterday, even outing himself as a Trekkie when greeted by a young woman in the uniform of the Starship Enterprise.

Voters' reactions ran the gamut, from great warmth to downright petulance.

At Bethlehem Steel, Glendening found himself wondering if the workers had been to a recent rally, for so many used exactly the same phrasing: "You saved our jobs, now we'll save yours."

In Northwest Baltimore, some seniors cheerfully scolded him about his failure to support slot machines. However, Sen. Paula C. Hollinger proved adept at finding pro-Glendening voters outside the busy Pikesville Giant, even as some disgruntled shoppers elbowed their way through the crowd of Democrats.

The Glendening-Townsend ticket was a harder sell at the "sister campuses" of Oak Crest Village and Charlestown Senior Center, self-contained residential complexes so large that each has its own voting precinct.

"I'd like to have your vote," the governor said to Tom Foster, a retired city school administrator who works as an election judge at Oak Crest. "I'm sure you would," Foster replied noncommittally.

Betty Timberlake, who moved to Maryland from North Carolina earlier this year, said the governor may have won her vote just by shaking her hand and taking time to ask her questions about her home state.

"It really did make a difference," she said. "I met [Sauerbrey] two to three weeks ago, and I told her I was from North Carolina and she just brushed me off. He didn't. I know it's all political, but still."

Later, Foster noted that residents at Oak Crest are surprisingly reticent about politics. "People this age grew up around dining room tables, trained by their parents not to discuss politics or religion. I haven't heard any political discussions or any depth at all."

But they turn out to vote. Oak Crest, which didn't exist in the 1994 election, had 57 percent turnout in the primaries and Foster expects that more than 80 percent will vote next week. "To watch people come here with walkers and canes and vision problems -- it really makes a comment on the commitment of these voters."

At Charlestown, a few of the complex's 2,000-plus residents attended the noon-time meeting, which featured not only Glendening, but Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski and Attorney General J. Joseph Curran. But the media ranks following Glendening had been steadily swelling all day, with Japanese and BBC film crews now trailing him.

Comptroller candidate William Donald Schaefer showed up for one of the Baltimore appearances, at Myerberg Northwest Senior Center. There, he delighted residents with his impromptu participation in a strength-training class, taking off his jacket and going through the various moves, albeit without hand weights.

Unlike Mikulski, he did not take a turn on the bus.

The "Sauerbrey Country Bus Tour" began the day meeting voters in the town of Oakland's village square. From there, the campaign's two buses headed east, passing mountains clad in autumnal gold and stopping to meet with conservatives who helped her carry Western Maryland in the 1994 election.

Near Hancock, the buses pulled off Interstate 70 and parked in front of Hepburn Orchards Fruit Market. Owner Terry Hepburn ** greeted the entourage.

Hepburn, a Democrat, cited government programs that have helped to improve the hiking trails near Hancock and the streets of its downtown, and he said he was inclined to support Glendening. He then told Sauerbrey and her running mate, Richard D. Bennett, that he was no longer growing his own fruit because of bureaucratic obstacles.

Bennett said, "When Governor Sauerbrey takes office, you can be the first person to testify before the regulatory review commission." By the time the candidates left, Hepburn was no longer sure where his vote would go. "She's got some good comments," he said.

The buses then traveled to Maugansville Elementary School, in the farm country just outside Hagerstown. Sauerbrey ate a school lunch, signed autographs for the children and explained the virtues of tax cuts to a fifth-grade class. Then she, along with other candidates, marched through a nearby neighborhood as part of the school's parade to promote voting as a civic duty.

Following marching bands and children dressed in red, white and blue, Sauerbrey veered from sidewalk to sidewalk to shake hands with grown-ups. "Hey, Ellen! Oh boy," Ruth Gonce, 84, shouted from the folding chair she'd set up along the road. "I'm a retired state employee, and you know what I'm doing."

Gonce, who said she'd already cast her absentee ballot, later explained why she voted for Sauerbrey. "I've had enough of that guy who's in there," she said. "I tell you, some of the tricks he's pulled!"

The next stop was in downtown Frederick. About 80 supporters filed into a square near the county courthouse to meet Sauerbrey -- including a court clerk dressed as a witch for Halloween.

In Frederick, the campaign ran into its first opposition of the day. Democratic congressional candidate Tim McCown and his wife, Shelie, quietly stood on the fringe of the rally with a Glendening-Townsend sign. "I had to do it," Shelie McCown said. "I'm just here as a peaceful dissenter."

Addressing the crowd, Sauerbrey and Bennett complained about Glendening's "attack ads" as "morally wrong."

The dueling tours continue today, with Sauerbrey visiting the Eastern Shore while Glendening devotes his day to Montgomery County.

Pub Date: 10/31/98