NORTON FACES ECLECTIC GROUP OF OPPONENTS One candidate served time in prison for growing marijuana. Another is a freight train conductor who says the two major political parties turn off working people. The third, a Republican, has badly lost in three tries at public office and was not recruited by GOP leaders. These three long shots will take on the District's political diva, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), in next week's race to be the city's nonvoting delegate to Congress. Barring a miracle, Norton should coast to a sixth two-year term. "Never heard of them," Norton said of her opponents. They are Edward Henry Wolterbeek, a Republican and math teacher; Robert D. Kampia, a Libertarian who favors legalizing marijuana; and Sam Manuel, a Socialist Workers Party candidate and conductor. Norton faced her opponents recently on WAMU-FM in a forum marked by gaffes. Wolterbeek, for instance, bragged that he would blend in well with the Republican majority. "I'd be part of the old boys' network," he said, referring to a clique often viewed by District leaders as unfriendly. And Kampia said he would vote against every spending bill that contained money to finance the nation's drug war. "The problem is, you wouldn't have the vote," Norton reminded Kampia. Norton, 63, has proved that although the District does not have a vote on the House floor, she can still get legislation passed. She claimed 13 legislative victories in the last two years, either stand-alone bills or parts of others. Perhaps no victory was as big as the one on Oct. 17, when Congress approved Norton's bill allowing the private sector to develop the federally owned Southeast Federal Center near the Washington Navy Yard. The city has never had that much land (55 acres) available at one time to turn into a mix of offices, shops and restaurants, and Congress has never permitted federal property to be privately developed. "I have spent the better part of my 10 years in Congress trying to get the federal government to make use of this site," Norton said. "It has been the hardest nut to crack." She had less trouble winning approval of the college tuition program, under which D.C. high school graduates can attend schools outside the city at in-state rates. Norton also saved the federal funding for the planned New York Avenue Metro station, freed up an additional $90 million to keep D.C. General Hospital from shutting down early next year and won money to clean up Poplar Point on the Anacostia waterfront. "If you are a member of Congress or mayor or governor, and you're not seeking your first office, it's very much a question for voters of, 'I'll judge what you can do by what you have done,' " Norton said. Her success in the coming two years could hinge on whether the Democrats take control of the House. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), the current minority leader, has assured Norton that if he is elected speaker, the rules will be changed to permit her a floor vote. Meanwhile, Norton's opponents struggle to be heard, acknowledging their overwhelming odds. Kampia, Norton's most visible challenger, rejected suggestions that he is not serious. "I'm not doing this in my spare time to teach people a lesson," said Kampia, a former Penn State student body president who was briefly imprisoned at age 20 for growing a patch of pot. "I'm really trying to win." Kampia, 31, is trying to win largely on a single issue: ending the war on illegal drugs. He believes the federal government has wasted millions of dollars on an effort that has failed. "It's time to bring drugs in off the street and regulate their sales," said Kampia, an Adams-Morgan resident whose day job is serving as executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization he founded to liberalize marijuana laws. Manuel, 51, a CSX freight train conductor, could not recall how many votes he got in the mayoral race in 1998. City election records show he received 330 votes, coming in seventh of eight candidates. He offers himself as a champion of working people and D.C. statehood. "The wealthy have the two parties. Working people have none," said Manuel, who lives in the Brightwood section of Washington. Wolterbeek's phone is disconnected, and the candidate said it is because too many people were calling to ask him to referee youth soccer games, one of his outside interests. A drive to his condominium in the Fort Lincoln section of Northeast found Wolterbeek, 57, walking down the street. He invited a reporter to a nearby 7-Eleven for an interview. He is not seeking help from the party organization. "I go to churches, I go to various campaign" events, he said. Wolterbeek, an eighth-grade math teacher in Prince George's County, captured 6 percent of the vote when he ran against Norton two years ago. "It's always uphill," he said. Staff writer Sewell Chan contributed to this report.
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