With just 13 days to go before the election, Democrat C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger and Republican Helen Delich Bentley, locked in one of the tightest congressional races in the nation, were campaigning in the 2nd District from morning to night yesterday, their activities ranging from lunch with a Cabinet secretary to replanting stolen campaign signs.
For Ruppersberger, the day began at 8:09 a.m. as he was chauffeured in a forest green Lexus sedan to a fast-food restaurant, then a bagel shop and finally a diner -- all in Republican territory like Lutherville and Timonium. That's where Ruppersberger, munching on a bacon-and-egg biscuit between morning stops, wants to take Republican votes away from Bentley.
At the Nautilus Diner in Timonium, the Baltimore County executive strode to a table where an old fraternity brother from the University of Maryland sipped coffee with a friend. "Anything I can do to help?" asked John Mezzullo, a financial planner from Lutherville.
"Just don't vote for Bentley," Ruppersberger said.
At his last stop, at Panera Bread in Timonium, Ruppersberger reached out a hand to Ruth Elmore, 66, a shipping and billing clerk who has had trouble getting health coverage because she has a pacemaker.
"Are you going to look out for old people?" she asked Ruppersberger over a bagel and coffee.
"Aw, c'mon, you know my issue is prescription drugs," Ruppersberger said. The candidate said he would push for a prescription drug plan for seniors. "So, yes, I will take care of seniors," he said.
At quarter to 10, Bentley and staff were on their way to an endorsement rally by Citizens for Property Rights, the group that successfully fought Ruppersberger's condemnation and revitalization plan, known as Senate Bill 509, two years ago.
They were running a bit late, didn't know quite where they were going and only had a map of Montgomery County.
They arrived a few minutes past 10 at the Commodore Hall bar and catering business in Essex, a headquarters for the anti-SB 509 crowd.
"You guys were the hub of the battle," Bentley said, shaking her fist in the air, "and you had support in many, many places."
One of the women there, Jigantree Pasram, a mother of eight and grandmother of 13, pointed Bentley to the picture of her six-bedroom, five-bath home that was on the list.
"We alone can give you 18 votes," she said.
"Make sure they all vote twice," Bentley replied.
After the morning restaurant visits, Ruppersberger met with staff to plan strategy. By late morning, though, he was back on the campaign trail, this time in Lutherville replacing a campaign sign in a supporter's front yard.
Dozens of signs have disappeared recently, Ruppersberger said.
"I'm not blaming my opponent for this," he said, but the disappearances have riled volunteers whose devotion is essential for a successful campaign.
So at 11:11 a.m., Ruppersberger, in a green polo shirt with "Go Dutch!" embroidered above the heart, walked across the supporter's lawn with a large green sign.
"Where's the best place for this?" he asked of two trailing staffers.
They eyed different sites, finally settling on a location easily seen by motorists passing on Seminary Avenue. Ruppersberger began pushing the plastic sign into the front lawn.
A short while later, a supporter from the neighborhood drove up. "Put some more in my front yard," she said, requesting campaign signs to replace ones that she said had been stolen.
The woman kissed Ruppersberger on the cheek, leaving traces of red lipstick.
At lunchtime, after shaking a few hands at an Essex supermarket, Bentley headed over to Squire's Restaurant in Dundalk, where she gathered a round- table of 23 senior citizens, mostly old friends of hers, for a discussion with another old friend, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.
The attendees grilled the Cabinet secretary about prescription drug costs, the quality of generic drugs and problems with their pensions.
"I'm on five prescription drugs, I've got an inflamed sciatic nerve, somebody stole my car and my house burned down," Mary Pyles, 82, of Dundalk told Thompson. "What I want to know is, can I move in with you?"
Thompson laughed and said the best thing she could do would be to elect Bentley.
Pyles looked over at Bentley. "Truthfully, Helen, I have not talked to one person yet who says they're not going to vote for you," she said. "You're going to take Dundalk by storm. You're a giant of a lady, and I think you're going to make it."
That brightened Thompson right up.
"When can you move in?" he asked. "Are you going to help with the rent?"
In the afternoon, Ruppersberger was running late. After hours of fund-raising calls and interviews, he pulled into the parking lot of a South Baltimore shopping center.
Ruppersberger had visited the Cherry Hill neighborhood five times. He sees its voters as natural supporters whose ballots could provide the thin margin of victory in a tight race.
Outside Cherry Hill Town Center, Ruppersberger walked up to Phyllis Smith, who was talking to her brother.
"You look good in person," Smith told Ruppersberger. She promised to vote for him, but that wasn't enough for the candidate.
"Get all your friends, too," he said, urging her to encourage their voting for him. "How about a lawn sign?"
Soon, Ruppersberger was sitting at a long conference table in a community health center across the street. He listened to the board's concerns about getting federal funding.
The Democrat talked about his commitment to health care, especially after being seriously injured in a car accident years ago. And he told the audience that he worked to revitalize older communities in Baltimore County -- and would continue to do so from Congress.
Ruppersberger vowed to help South Baltimore Family Health Centers Inc. cut through red tape and get Medicaid reimbursement money more easily.
Bentley, meanwhile, headed back to the office of her former employer, The Sun, a place she worked "when it was a really good newspaper."
On the third floor of the Calvert Street building, she spent an hour answering questions for the newspaper's editorial board (Ruppersberger had his interview with the board Monday) in hopes of winning an endorsement.
She outlined in great detail the needs of the port, her first love. She talked about the need to improve the area's transportation system, both by building more roads and creating more mass transit.
She pounded home the need to keep manufacturing in the United States and deflected questions about her environmental record in Congress.
The board hit her with the same question it asked Ruppersberger: With Congress as bitterly divided as it's ever been, how are you going to get anything accomplished?
"Even though I am considered an old battle-ax, I think I know more of how to get people off their fence and off their sword and get to working together," Bentley said.
Although the day was long, it wasn't close to ending.
After her meeting at The Sun, Bentley spent a couple of hours knocking on doors in Towson. And Ruppersberger followed his talk at the Cherry Hill health care center with rallies with the AFL-CIO and Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin.
That evening, the pair met up for a candidate forum, their 11th matchup of the campaign.