Robert Novak writes in The Washington Post (11/2/98, p. A19) that the "uninspiring midterm campaign exposed a Democratic Party in desperate trouble nationwide and a Republican Party often too timid to exploit its advantage. Nothing showed this pattern more clearly than the dismal race for governor of Maryland....

"With Glendening sinking fast, he cast a lifeline to a virtuoso political craftsman: Washington-based campaign consultant Bob Shrum. What followed was a hugely expensive television buy in Washington and Baltimore that night after night assailed ‘the real Ellen Sauerbrey’ (depicted unattractively in a mottled photograph) as a foe of ‘civil rights’ who is ‘outside’ the Maryland tradition of ‘freedom and tolerance.’ Glendening is not mentioned in the commercial."

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ASHAMED OR UNABLE TO MAKE THE CASE AGAINST ABORTION OR FOR SECOND AMENDMENT

"Sauerbrey's response typified her campaign. A conservative, pro-life, pro-gun state legislator who bucked her party's establishment for the 1994 nomination, she was convinced this year that she had to move left to win. So her response to Shrum was defensive: ‘She'll enforce Maryland's tough gun laws, uphold current law on abortion.’ Glendening's advisers mused that she might have done much better had she stuck to her principles. Not surprisingly, the governor soared ahead...."

LACK OF MORAL CERTAINTY IS A PRESCRIPTION FOR DEFEAT

"Many Republicans intuitively respond to such abuse as Sauerbrey did, by insisting they are not really so bad as the Democrats claim. ‘Thank God for the Republicans!’ exclaimed a savvy Democratic political operative close to Clinton when I asked him to forecast Tuesday's outcome. The session-ending retreat of the Republican congressional leadership has been replicated in many election contests."

FONG'S "ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN" STRATEGY KEPT BOXER IN THE SENATE

As reported in Human Events (11/6/98, p. 5), "‘Political naïveté by [Senate nominee] Matt Fong at best or an act of political stupidity on his part at worst’ is how California State Sen. Dick Mountjoy (R.) characterized the recent expression of support for important parts of the homosexual agenda by the Republican opponent to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.)."

FONG TOOK CASH FROM "HOMO REPUBLICANS"

"Having received an early endorsement and an $8,000 donation from the Log Cabin Republican Club, a California-based homosexual rights group, moderate Republican Fong was rocked last week by published reports that he had contributed $50,000 from his campaign kitty to the Rev. Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition...."

BUT GAINED ENDORSEMENT FROM "ANTI HOMO" ACTIVIST AFTER $50,000 GIFT

"The donation is also [a] sore spot among many conservatives, who note that Fong made it in February of this year, just as the 43-year-old moderate hopeful and his primary foe, conservative Darrell Issa, were vying for the endorsement of the conservative California Republican Assembly (CRA). Sheldon stunned many at the CRA convention in Torrance by making the nominating speech for Fong, whose pro-abortion and pro-homosexual positions differed sharply with those of Issa and Sheldon himself."

SHELDON SAYS FONG'S PRO-ISRAEL STANCE MORE IMPORTANT THAN HIS SUPPORT FOR ABORTION

"At that CRA convention (which voted overwhelmingly to back Issa), Sheldon told Human Events that he backed Fong because he had ‘known the family a long time, Matt is a strong Christian, and he is strongly pro-Israel.’"

FONG WOULD PUNISH ANTI-HOMO "HATE CRIMES" AND MANDATE HOMO HIRING AND HOUSING

"Fong responded to the charges of ‘extremism’ by Boxer by meeting with the leaders of the Log Cabin Republicans last week and restating his commitment to items on their agenda. ‘As he always has, Matt feels it is wrong to discriminate against anyone on the basis of sexual orientation and would support legislation to ban such discrimination,’ Fong spokesman Steve Schmidt told Human Events. ‘He would also support federal hate crimes legislation similar to the law we have on the books here in California.’...

"He added that Fong would ‘vote to confirm’ homosexual activist James Hormel to be U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg, a nomination that the GOP-controlled Senate has refused to approve....

"But...Jon Fleischman, past president of the California Republican Assembly, told Human Events, ‘Lou Sheldon made an emphatic appeal to California Republican Assembly delegates in March asking us to endorse Matt Fong because he [Fong] was a conservative....

"‘Frankly, I don't know what is more disappointing: Sheldon shilling for Fong or Fong's recent overtures to the gay and lesbian community.’"