They rapped on doors, waved bright signs, groused about the media, ate chicken wings, and shook hands — lots and lots of hands.
The women and men hoping to win the Democratic nomination to be Baltimore's next mayor whirled through the city Monday, seeking to sway last-minute support as the primary neared.
In the biggest race, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake faces four challengers, but elections officials did not expect a crush of voters.
"We're all ready for whoever comes," said Armstead B. Crowley Jones Jr., director of the Baltimore Board of Elections. About 7,800 of the city's 370,000 registered voters cast ballots in the six days of early voting, so he did not expect a very high turnout Tuesday.
The city's 290 polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., he said
Rawlings-Blake caught a bus from City Hall to Lexington Market to rally voters, accompanied bySen. Barbara A. Mikulski.
When Mikulski waved enthusiastically at an approaching bus, Rawlings-Blake, who stood quietly by her side, informed the senator that their bus would arrive shortly.
"Let's wave anyway," said Mikulski.
Rawlings-Blake was similarly muted on the bus, greeting riders in hushed tones and prompting a campaign aide to mime waving and smiling to her. Rawlings-Blake mostly chatted with Mikulski, clucking over the Republican lawmakers in Washington.
"I don't know how you go down there every day with all of that discord," the mayor said to Mikulski. "I wish everyone could be as reasonable as our delegation."
Mikulski whipped up the crowd, loudly cracking jokes and reminding riders to vote.
"Tomorrow's election day. We've got to support our mayor," said Mikulski, who started her political career as an East Baltimore councilwoman.
While many passengers snapped cell phone photos of Rawlings-Blake, one griped loudly that the mayor's retinue had slowed the bus and would make her late to work.
"We're missing our connection to the light rail because of this," said Darlene Williams, who was heading from her East Baltimore home to a job at the airport. "She's not getting my vote."
Rawlings-Blake also encountered a mixed reaction at the market.
Calvin Hayes, 42, an unemployed warehouse worker from West Baltimore, grinned and posed for a picture with the mayor.
"I think she's doing fine for her just getting in there. People have to realize there was already a lot of crap when she came in," he said. "Plus, we need a pretty face."
Rawlings-Blake said she was "excited" about the primary, which, in the overwhelmingly Democratic city, usually determines the next mayor.
But about a half-dozen people, both inside and outside the market, heckled the mayor.
Elihu El of Park Heights peppered Rawlings-Blake with questions about her dealings with developers and a racially charged incident in which two members of a Jewish patrol group were accused of beating a black teenager. State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein dropped some of the more serious charges.
"You ain't done nothing for black people in this city," said Elihu El of Park Heights. "You're bought and paid for, Ms. Rawlings."
Candidate Otis Rolley swept through the market an hour later, handing out purple stickers, sampling chicken wings, and answering questions about his plans to boost employment.
"Do you have a plan to create jobs… for people like me who might have a criminal background?" asked Anthony Thomas, 40, an unemployed cook from West Baltimore.
After Rolley explained his plan to create incentives for businesses to hire ex-offenders, Thomas said he had decided to vote for Rolley. "I think out of these candidates, he has the better resume for rebuilding the city," Thomas said.
State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh ticked through a dizzying schedule, waving to transit riders near Mondawmin Mall, talking to children about health at Callaway Elementary School, hosting a radio show, greeting voters at a North Baltimore home and celebrating at an evening rally.
"I'm excited about being the next mayor of the City of Baltimore," said Pugh. "I've enjoyed the interactions with people."
Clerk of Circuit Court Frank M. Conaway also mingled with voters across the city, waving signs at McCullough Street and North Avenue, and passing out backpacks with school supplies to children at Edgewood Elementary School.
He planned to stay in his campaign headquarters today and "troubleshoot" for staffers and volunteers, instead of visiting polling places. "If you haven't done it all by Election Day, you can forget about it," he said.
Candidate Joseph T. "Jody" Landers III urged voters not to be misled by "political commentators and pundits" who, he said, were predicting the primary's outcome before most ballots had been cast.
"The point I want to get across today, in the strongest language possible, is that this election is not over," Landers said at a morning news conference at his Key Highway campaign headquarters. "The citizens have yet to register their votes. ... Each and every vote counts."
Landers, the former vice president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors, said he was concerned that the results of a recent Baltimore Sun poll would deter voters.
Rawlings-Blake had the support of 50 percent of the poll's respondents, with Pugh and Rolley in a statistical dead heat with 12 and 10 percent, respectively. Landers and Conaway were tied for fourth place with 5 percent.
"From the voters' perspective, the only poll that means anything is the poll taken on Election Day in the voting booth," Landers said.
Meanwhile, four candidates who are challenging City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young called a news conference to chastise the media.
Although 15 forums were held for mayoral candidates, the only one scheduled for City Council president hopefuls was canceled by the League of Women Voters because of an earthquake earlier that day.
That favors the incumbent, said Thomas A. Kiefaber, who organized the news conference that included two other Democratic candidates, Leon Winthly Hector Sr. and Renold B. Smith, as well as Republican contender Armand F. Girard.
"They don't even know who we are," said Kiefaber, the former owner of the Senator Theater. "Nobody knows anything about the second highest elected office."
Baltimore Sun reporters Ed Gunts and Liz F. Kay contributed to this article.
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For voting information, the Baltimore City Elections Board can be contacted at (410) 396-5550 or
http://www.baltimorecity.gov/Government/BoardsandCommissions/ElectionsBoard.aspx
Baltimore Democrats and Republicans on Tuesday will choose their nominees for mayor, City Council president and City Council. Here are the candidates:
Mayor
Democratic
Conaway, Frank M.
Landers, Joseph T. "Jody" III
Pugh, Catherine E.
Rawlings-Blake, Stephanie
Rolley, Otis
Wilson, Wilton
Republican
Griffin, Alfred V. III
Harding, Vicki Ann
President of the City Council
Democratic
Hector, Leon Winthly Sr.
Kiefaber, Tom
Smith, Charles U.
Smith, Renold B.
Young, Bernard C. "Jack"
Republican
Girard, Armand F.
Wiggins,David Anthony
Comptroller
Democratic
Pratt, Joan M.
City Council District 1
Democratic
Kahler, Jason
Kraft, James B.
Luce, Helene J.
City Council District 2
Democratic
Daniels Obiora, Sharita M.
Gross, Cynthia A.
Guyton, Emmett
Hamilton, Anthony
Scott, Brandon M.
Simpson, Jamaal D.
Republican
Maynard-Tucker, Shereese
City Council District 3
Democratic
Bivens, Jerome A.
Curran, Robert W.
Vanhook, George M. Sr.
Republican
Collins, Gary M.
City Council District 4
Democratic
Barnes, Scherod
Henry, Bill
Republican
Edwards, Ebony R.
City Council District 5
Democratic
Carberry, Scott M.
Durant, Luke Jr.
Jones, Curtis
Lennon, Derrick
Spector, Rochelle Rikki
Republican
Winokur, Ari
City Council District 6
Democratic
Hughes, Mark E.
Middleton, Sharon Green
Wimbish, Rhonda
City Council District 7
Democratic
Brim, Henry W. Jr.
Conaway, Belinda K.
Hicks, Allen
Mercer, Timothy
Mosby, Nick
Republican
Bradley, Michael John
City Council District 8
Democratic
Ammi, Haki Shakur
Holton, Helen
Love, Dayvon
Smallwood, David Maurice
Republican
Betzel, Dennis
City Council District 9
Democratic
Bailey, Janet
Breiseth, Abigail
Bullock, John T.
Cooke, Quianna M.
Hannah, Derwin
Johnson, Michael Eugene
LeFall, Waymon E.
Taylor, Chris
Welch, William Pete
City Council District 10
Democratic
Marker, Bill
Reisinger, Edward L.
White, Erica S.
City Council District 11
Democratic
Cole, William
Republican
Shelton, Duane
City Council District 12
Democratic
Brown, Devon
Curtis, Jason
Harris, Ertha
Jones, Jermaine
Ramos, Odette
Richardson, Frank W.
Stokes, Carl
Republican
Boles, Kent Jr.
City Council District 13
Democratic
Armstrong, Kimberly M.
Branch, Warren Maurice
Glover, Antonio "Tony"
Harris, Gamaliel Jr.
Sneed, Shannon
City Council District 14
Democratic
Clarke, Mary Pat
Source: State Board of Elections