Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-18
MARYLAND
Big Bottle
Looming For
Landlord
BY GENE GOODWIN

best steer clear Of the Lank-
ford-Sothoron primary in the
5th Congressional District.
1t is shaping up as one Of
those humdingers that won't
be decided until the last vote
is. counted.
Freshman Represent a tive
Richard E. Landlord of An
napolis is being formidably
challenged for denomination
in the May 7 Democratic pri-
mary by L. Harold Sothoron.
former State Senator from
Prince Georges County and
ex-Senate majority leader. Mr..
Sothoron was defeated in 1850
after 16 years in the Legisla-
ture.
Both men are lawyers. Both
also are Navy veterans-Mr.
Sothoron of World War I and
Mr.. Landlord of World War
II. The challenger is SO, the
incumbent Al.
AS much as anything else,
it's a contest between the two
biggest counties of the 5th
district - Anne Arundel and
Prince Georges. Democratic
leaders in each of those juris-
dictionS seem to be virtually
solid in support of their fay
orite sons"
The Anne Arundel folks are
bitter at what they view as a
Prince Georges attempt to
dump a good man for purely
geographical reasons. They
argue that the 5th District had
been represented in the House
for more than 20 years by a
Prince Georges man until Mr..
Landlord defeated Republican
Frank Small, jr. two years ago.
The Prince Georges counter
argument goes something like
this: I'VE never would have
been content to take Mr..
Landlord as we did in 1854
except for the fact that the
Democratic candidate for Gov
ernor, DR.. H. c. Byrd. was
from our county and we didn't
want to be greedy"
Nearby Majority
Prince Georges has the
bigger population of the two
counties and the most signifi-
cant Democratic vote. In the
1854 primary. 16,867 voted for
Congress in Prince Georges,
compared to 1872 in Anne
Arundel.
The number of Democrats
who voted for Congress that
primary in the other five juris-
dictions of the district were:
st. Marys County, Abb;
Howard County, 3,44l; Charles
County. 2,373; South Balti-
. more City, 1904, and Calvert
total-4,665.
1t is easy to see from these
figures why Prince Georges is
the principal battle-ground for
the Lankford-Sothoron con-
test.
The challenger knows he
must come out of his own
county with a substantial ma
jority to assure victory. Like
wise, the incumbent knows his
best hope of denomination
lies in his ability to white
Mr.. Sothoron's Prince Georges
vote
In this effort, Mr.. Landlord
has the traditional advantage
of being an incumbent. He also
seems assured of getting la
boris support again.
So far, Mr.. Landlords up
hill Prince Georges battle has
been fought for him by the
newly-formed Citizens Com
mittee for Landlord. That
militant committee is being
quarterbacked by former VFW
State Commander w. Earl
Griffin and Attorney Oscar
Dudley. Its role in this cam
paign seems to be one of keep
ing on the offensive and
making as much noise as pos
sible for MI. Landlord and
against Mr.. Sothoron.
Sothoron's Support
But the organization support
is the important thing in a
primary, and Mr.. Sothoron has
that IN Prince Georges. AL
though his campaign manager,
Herbert w. Reichelt, declines
at this time to make any pre-
diction as to how much of q
margin Prince Georges Demo-
Gratis will give to Mr.. Sothoron.
he says he expects it to be
siZeable.
AS for the other parts OF
the District, Mr.. Landlord is
expected to do we'll in Howard
County, and possibly in South
Baltimore. He has split-vote
Endorsement from the st.
Marys County Democratic Gen.
trail Committee, but observers
look for Mr.. Sothoron to hold
his own there and perhaps
carry it.
Mr.. Sothoron, who is cur
rently chairman of the Prince
Georges Democratic Central
Committee, was born in st.
Marys and still has lots OF
friends and relatives there.
He also lived for six years
as a youth in Charles. He
hopes that will help him in
that county, which appears
now to be a toss-up.
That leaves little Calvert.
Democrats down there gen.
orally go along with their best
known citizen, State Senate
President Louis l.. Goldstein,
but the Senator hasn't yet
taken a stand.
So far, no real issues have
developed in the contest. Both
camps adhere to that ancient
political theory that the only