Helen Delich Bentley

Fife Symington, the grandson of steel magnate Henry Clay Frick, ran for Congress in Maryland three times as a Republican without success.  He ran for an open seat in 1958 when four-term incumbent James Devereaux ran for Governor.  That turned out to be a bad year for Republicans nationally: Devereaux lost to Millard Tawes 63%-37% and Daniel Brewster, a 35-year-old state legislator, won the seat 61%-39%.  Symington ran again in 1960 and Brewster beat him 59%-41%.  His third bid came in 1962, when Brewster ran for U.S. Senator and lost the open seat to Clarence Long, 52%-48%.  When Richard Nixon became President, he appointed Symington to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago.  He was a cousin of Stuart Symington, a U.S. Senator from Missouri and a candidate for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination, and the father of Fife Symington III, who was elected Governor of Maryland in 1990 and served until his conviction on federal bank fraud charges in 1997.

Maryland has fourteen living former Members of Congress; the oldest is Marjorie Holt, who turns 88 on Wednesday.  The Anne Arundel Republican was elected to the House in 1972 and served until her retirement in 1986.  The others: Michael Barnes, Robert Bauman, Helen Delich Bentley, Beverly Byron, Roy Dyson, Bob Ehrlich, Lawrence Hogan, Charles Mathias, Thomas McMillan, Kweisi Mfume, Connie Morella, Paul Sarbanes and Albert Wynn.

Former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley has endorsed Duncan Hunter for PresidentDuncan Hunter received just three votes at a Maryland Republican Party straw poll in September and is barely registers in national polls, but the GOP presidential candidate has one prominent endorsement in Maryland: former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley told PolitickerMD.com that she’s backing Hunter in the February 12 Republican primary.

Rudy Giuliani, who has the backing of Bentley’s successor in the House, ex-Gov. Robert Ehrlich, leads John McCain in Maryland by a 32%-13% margin, according to an OpinonWorks poll released in September. Fred Thompson has 12% and Mitt Romney is at 8%. Ron Paul, who was at less than 1% in the poll, won the state party straw poll.