Why didn't Townsend win?

It is far more likely that Gov. Parris N. Glendening correctly assessed Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's campaign as one of the "worst-run" in the country than that "lots of people ... wouldn't vote for me because I'm a woman" ("Townsend moves on down a different trail," Nov. 8).

Ellen Sauerbrey, running as an unabashed conservative, took on Mr. Glendening in 1994 and fell short by fewer than 6,000 votes. But despite a 2-1 Democratic advantage, Ms. Townsend alienated enough people to lose to Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. by nearly 58,000 votes.

Ms. Townsend described a recent family walk on the Baltimore-Annapolis Trail as a "metaphor for carrying on." She should have packed lighter for the trip, because it's apparent she still carries some resentment.

However "reluctant" she may be "to talk about mistakes she might have made," Ms. Townsend could not help demonstrate why voters made the better choice.

Andrew Gendron

Cockeysville

I am a life-long Democrat who voted for Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. And I think it's interesting that Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend blamed everyone for her defeat but herself.

I, along with many women like me, was turned off by Ms. Townsend.

When I was a teen-ager, I stood out in the pouring rain in New York state to hear her uncle speak, although I was too young to vote for him.

But Ms. Townsend is not her uncle or her father. I was appalled by her mean campaign and embarrassed -- as a woman, a Democrat and a Marylander -- by her performance at the debate.

All of the excuses Ms. Townsend cites had a little to do with her defeat, but she was the main problem.

I would love to have a woman governor in Maryland -- just not this one.

Marilynn Gordon

Reisterstown

I enjoyed Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's quote in The Sun: "You guys [in the media] didn't hold the opponent to the same level of scrutiny you held me."

She is absolutely correct. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was held to a much higher standard.

Like the rest of the Democrats, Ms. Townsend just doesn't get it. Everyone does know what they stand for, and that is why they got trounced.

D. R. Chenoweth

Timonium

Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has been busy blaming others for her failure to be elected. She may be partially right.

The media and the liberal wing of the party anointed Ms. Townsend long before the people could choose. As a result, far more qualified Democratic candidates (such as Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan) were excluded from the start -- Democrats who probably could have beaten Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

Maybe the Democratic Party will learn something from this election: Let the people choose our nominee next time, not the media and the liberal wing of the party.

Stephen L. Sprecher

Catonsville

So Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend thinks the '"media performed unevenly throughout the race."

Well, I, for one, can attest to that statement.

Throughout my campaign the media virtually shut me out of all coverage and forums. Even Ms. Townsend ignored my campaign and my offers to debate. Even after I took 20 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, Ms. Townsend and her staff just brushed me off.

Ms. Townsend better get out of denial and realize that her rejection was a rejection of a politician who no longer represented the principles that made the Democratic Party great during the 1960s and 1970s.

Robert Fustero

Silver Spring

The writer lost to Ms. Townsend in the state's Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening's remark on election night that Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's campaign was "one of the worst-run campaigns in the country" betrays an arrogance that probably surprises only the newest Maryland residents.

But if anyone should take much of the blame for Ms. Townsend's defeat, it is Mr. Glendening.

He inextricably linked her to the shady pension and redistricting dealings of his administration, and to his wasteful and largely ineffective environmental programs.

The fact that the lieutenant governor seems to have a difficult time stringing thoughts together in comprehensible sentences and that projects she headed such as the juvenile justice system were held up as failures also worked against her.

But I believe what happened on Nov. 5 was not the state rejecting Ms. Townsend but rejecting the Glendening program, which has done little for state residents or for the environment but throw astronomical amounts of money away. I fear it will be hard for Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to accomplish much more than paying the tab.

Scott Williams

Westminster