BALTIMORE: A VOTE FOR CHANGE

MARTIN O'MALLEY, the city councilman who scored a stunning victory in
Baltimore's Democratic primary for mayor Tuesday, jumped into the race only
two weeks before the deadline with a mission that struck a strong chord
across the city. He said that neither of the leading candidates -- city
council president Lawrence A. Bell III and former council member Carl Stokes
- -- was focusing on closing down the city's open-air drug markets. When he
announced his platform of "Change and Reform," some party activists saw his
entry as an attempt by a white candidate to talk law and order and split
Baltimore's African American majority.

But voters saw the candidacy differently: Mr. O'Malley appealed to and won a
majority of the total vote. And his emphasis on cutting crime clearly
resonated across racial lines.

In a city where nearly 90 percent of the voters are Democrats, Mr. O'Malley,
36, enters the Nov. 2 general election campaign in strong shape to take on
Republican primary winner David F. Tufaro, 52, a developer who won 53
percent of the GOP vote. In both campaigns voters at debates expressed a
strong desire for departures from the 12-year administration of Kurt
Schmoke, citing needs for more public safety measures and for more extensive
revitalization of the city.

During the Schmoke years, Baltimore's domination of state government has
waned, in large part because of suburban growth there and in the Washington
area. Mayor Schmoke's relatively low profile in Annapolis didn't help
either; his counterparts from Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore
counties all worked on legislative coalitions that sought to right the
"Baltimore Tilt" that had sent hefty state aid to the city. How the next
mayor operates in Annapolis should be an issue in the campaign still to unfold.

Mr. O'Malley's chief challenge, if he is elected, will be to deliver on a
general pledge to stop the drugs and the killings.

Given the evident hunger among voters for results, he should promptly spell
out details.