A dream came to me last Tuesday night. It began as a bad dream, but it ended marvelously.

In the beginning, a few top b'hoys were seated at a restaurant in Little Italy enthusing about the stunning upset of Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a Democrat, by Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, making Ehrlich the first Republican governor since Spiro (Nolo Contendere) Agnew.

These b'hoys were frothingwith joy. No matter that they were all self-proclaimed Democrats themselves.

There was State Comptroller and former Governor William Donald Schaefer, furious that a single vote had been cast against him, but enthusiastic that the fantastic fountain on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion, which he had dedicated to his sweetheart Hilda Mae Snoops, might start flowing again. The dastardly Gov. Parris Glendening had turned off the water for the fountain in an act of singular smallness.

There was Bruce C. Bereano, the ex-con lobbyist, still in trouble with the state ethics commission. But he had worked hard for Ehrlich and he saw his lobbying fees swelling even beyond the obscene levels he had achieved in the past as a man with friends in high places.

There was state Sen. Clarence Mitchell IV, lately reprimanded by the ethics committee for borrowing - and not repaying in a timely fashion - $10,000 from an individual whose business could be enhanced by the legislature. In January, he would be a senator no more. He had been trounced in a district redesigned by Glendening. So the scion of one of the most prominent Democratic families in Baltimore had gone to work for Ehrlich.

Vengeance was sweet.

There was John Paterakis, of the bread and hotel fortune. He had supported Ehrlich, too. Lots of empty space in those hotels could be filled with slots someday. Ehrlich was for slots to balance the budget. With a revenue shortfall like the one facing Maryland these days, Ehrlich would have to line the state with slots.

Sweet!

There was Lou Grasmick, the Lumber man, smiling benignly. He had supported Ehrlich. Ehrlich was good for business. Grasmick likes to do business, especially if it keeps him inside the loop.

Happy Grasmick.

And there was Gene Raynor, the political junkie, former head of the city and state elections boards. Never saw a voting machine he didn't love. Raynor, who resembles actor Danny DeVito, has been Schaefer's closest pal since the death of Hilda Mae. He was out there working for Ehrlich. Working hard.

"We pulled it off, didn't we, b'hoys," Raynor gleamed.

"Did you see the suckers at Townsend's headquarters?" he asked. "Sarbanes, Mikulski, Cardin, Cummings, O'Malley - even Tydings!"

"Suckers," said Bereano.

"They just don't get it," Raynor cooed. "You were smart not to go there, Don."

"Gotta get that fountain running," Schaefer nodded.

Then another short man entered the room. It was Marvin Mandel, former governor of Maryland, former inmate of the federal prison system, where he was sent after his conviction on mail fraud and racketeering charges some 25 years ago.

Mandel was a master mechanic of government and a master manipulator of the process. That got him in trouble when the legislative process was manipulated in a way that enhanced the value of a racetrack owned by his friends, who went to jail with him.

But Mandel's conviction eventually was overturned when the Supreme Court upheld the idea that it was not a crime to deprive the people of Maryland of good government.

So Mandel was exonerated years ago. And young Bob Ehrlich had gone to Annapolis to see him just before last week's election to suggest to Mandel that he might help him get the government working more efficiently if he were elected.

Is that scary, or what?

Mandel was beaming..

"Let's hear it, b'hoys," he exclaimed. "How about that shiny-faced boy from Arbutus! We're back in the game. He's ours.!"

"The fountain!" beamed Schaefer.

"Slots, everywhere!" exulted Paterakis.

"Fees, big, fat fees!" gleamed Bereano.

"I'm back on the inside looking out," cheered Mitchell.

"Money, money, money," howled Grasmick.

"Don's happy, I'm happy," Raynor swooned.

"Manipulate and obfuscate," Mandel declared.

"The people of Maryland don't deserve good, honest government," whooped one of the b'hoys.

This was a nightmare.

But then the marvelous happened. Bobby Ehrlich appeared in the room, young, clean-cut.

"Wrong, men," he said, "Look at the returns. You didn't elect me. People far away from your realm of influence did. I promised change, but that means honest, open governmment.

"I'll turn on the fountain the day I take office, Don," he told Schaefer. "But the rest of you will have to forget it. Thanks for the sandwich at Chick 'n Ruth's, Marvin, but that photo op was just phony-baloney politics.

"See ya, b'hoys."

What a marvelous dream that turned out to be.