In the race for Maryland?s 3rd Congressional District, the candidates have maintained a gentlemanly decorum and provided voters with a study in contrasts.
Democrat John Sarbanes, son of retiring U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, has raised $1.3 million, including about $150,000 from a variety of political action committees.
Republican John White, an Annapolis entrepreneur who built his own multimillion dollar marketing firm, has financed his campaign with $383,185 of his own money and small donations from family members.
“I think the biggest difference is the money and the corruption that it peddles in Washington,” said White, whose campaign message of improving the nation?s safety and security has drawn criticism from Democrats who accused him of “pushing the panic button.”
White said his message resonates with voters from both parties, and pointed to a recent candidate guide published by The Washington Post in which Sarbanes listed security at the top of his priority list, compared to earlier in the campaign when he listed health care as the most important issue.
“I don?t think there?s necessarily a pecking order in terms of these issues,” Sarbanes said. “There?s a lot of important issues ? education, environment, the situation in Iraq … You could probably sum up a commitment to all those priorities in a commitment to making our country strong again both in terms of abroad and here at home.”
Like many other Republicans, White said he would encourage voters in the last few days of the campaign to vote by absentee ballot at their local election board in light of human and technical glitches that marred the state?sprimary elections.
Sarbanes, however, called the fears of voting system failure “a huge distraction.”
“I think we have to move into Election Day with a sense of confidence that the voting process is going to work,” he said. “There?s going to be people watching the polls, there?s going to be hot lines in place so if things do occur they can be remedied early in the day.”
Part of the Baltimore Examiner’s 2006 Election Coverage
