So when Glendening's top political adviser, Secretary of State John T. Willis, signed up last week at the very last second to run in the Democratic primary for comptroller, the conspiracy theorists had a field day.

"If I were a betting man, Mr. Glendening put him up to it and is going to finance his campaign," Schaefer told The Gazette. "Willis wasn't going to go and do something like this on his own."

But Glendening and Willis deny the charge. Willis and Glendening communications director Karen White said Willis first attempted to contact the governor about running for comptroller shortly before he filed his candidacy papers Monday night, but did not reach him until a few minutes after the deed was done. White said her boss was as surprised as everyone else.

Willis said retribution was the furthest thing from his mind. A political science professor like Glendening and a leading scholar on Maryland political history, Willis said the job of comptroller has long interested him. A distant cousin of his, Joshua Hering, served as comptroller at the turn of the 20th century, and Willis was close to the legendary Louis L. Goldstein, who served as comptroller for 40 years until his sudden death in 1998.

"I know a lot about the office," he said.

Willis said the comptroller's race will be the one opportunity for Democratic primary voters to debate issues and set the course for the party (primaries for governor and attorney general will not be competitive). Willis said he sees himself as the champion of progressive causes and, unlike Schaefer, will pledge never to endorse a Republican. The issues he will emphasize: support for Smart Growth and land preservation, and opposition to slot machines -- the very positions Glendening has staked out and is most famous for.

Small wonder the conspiracy theorists are buzzing.

"I don't think John Willis breathes without Parris Glendening," said Kevin Igoe, a Republican consultant.

"Schaefer, Willis and [Montgomery County Republican and gun rights activist] Gus Alzona running for the same spot -- God must be smiling on Maryland pundits," said Blair Lee, a columnist and commentator with the Montgomery Journal and WAMU (98.5 FM) radio.

Plots and theories

But regardless of whether Glendening put Willis up to it, the comptroller's race all of a sudden has all kinds of delicious subplots:

*It will, obviously, present an opportunity for Schaefer partisans and Glendening partisans to go to war.

*It presents an awkward situation for several Democrats -- especially Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who was surprised and unhappy by Willis' move and swiftly announced her support for Schaefer.

*It puts pressure on Schaefer, who is friendly with both Townsend and her Republican opponent in the gubernatorial election, U.S. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R-Dist. 2) of Timonium, to endorse Townsend earlier rather than later.

*It keeps Schaefer's most loyal supporters, who are split between the Townsend and Ehrlich camps, busy ponying up money to keep Schaefer in politics, limiting their ability to help Ehrlich financially.

*It reopens old wounds between competing factions in Baltimore-area Democratic politics.

*It provides a measure of revenge for former U.S. Rep. Michael Barnes (D).

William Donald Schaefer would not be comptroller today but for Goldstein dropping dead of a heart attack at the beginning of the July Fourth weekend four years ago -- 72 hours before the filing deadline for statewide political candidates.

After tense, hasty and awkward deliberations, Glendening encouraged Barnes, a former Montgomery County congressman then working as a Capitol Hill lobbyist, to run for comptroller. In Glendening's inner circle, no one was more enthusiastic about Barnes than John Willis, who had served as Barnes' campaign chairman during his unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 1986.

But Schaefer, the former governor and Baltimore mayor who had been unhappy in retirement, saw the chance to run for comptroller as a way back into the game. So he submitted his candidacy papers hours before the filing deadline; Barnes, who was hoping that Schaefer would reconsider and withdraw, folded his tent several days later.

Glendening pretended to be happy with the arrangement, and he and Townsend had several raucous joint appearances with Schaefer early in the campaign.

Barnes ally

Although he is from Carroll County originally, Willis lives in Baltimore city now, and he has long been allied with Democratic reformers there, including U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D) and Attorney General J. Joseph Curran (D). Schaefer, on the other hand, has been associated with the Democratic machine of the late boss Irv Kovens and former Gov. Marvin Mandel.

So Willis and Schaefer have never had much use for each other, and his friends say Willis never forgave Schaefer for spoiling Barnes' comeback. Coincidentally or not, Glendening and Schaefer's relationship deteriorated as soon as they began serving together on the Board of Public Works, and Schaefer has sniped at just about everything Glendening has done.

So now Willis is in the race against Schaefer. And he said he would espouse policies that Glendening has espoused -- especially land preservation, which Schaefer has criticized repeatedly. But, he said, he is not seeking revenge for Glendening -- or Barnes.

Barnes, now president of the Brady Campaign, a national gun control organization, said he did not know about Willis' plans ahead of time, but sees parallels between Willis' late entry into the race and Schaefer's four years ago.

"It does seem a little like déja vu," he said.

Barnes said he considers Schaefer the favorite but does not count Willis out.

Possible fallout

Schaefer said he welcomes the opportunity to campaign against Willis -- and Glendening's record.

"If it's going to be a case of Schaefer's policies vs. Glendening's policies, it's fine with me," he said.

Schaefer said his loyal Baltimore-based supporters are itching for a fight with a Glendening surrogate. They have always viewed Glendening as an illegitimate governor, an interloper from Prince George's County, the first Maryland governor elected from the Washington area since the Civil War era. They will be only too happy to devote time and resources to squashing Glendening's agent, Willis.

But that is bad news for Ehrlich, who is relying on these Baltimore business and civic leaders for campaign contributions. While most are Democrats, some support Republicans regularly, and many are not comfortable with Townsend. Townsend quickly endorsed Schaefer over Willis, but with a primary challenge now, Schaefer will have to call on his supporters to pay less attention to the governor's race and more to his. In this, some Republicans see more conspiracy.

Igoe said the Willis candidacy is simply an attempt "to keep Schaefer in line for [Townsend], and to make sure Schaefer and his people spend money on Schaefer, limiting Ehrlich's access to it." Igoe sees the conspiracy as not just one involving Glendening and Willis, but Townsend as well.

"To believe the idea that Willis is doing this on his own without the governor and lieutenant governor, you have to be naive to the point of being stupid," he said.

Schaefer has hinted for weeks that he will endorse Townsend eventually, but clearly enjoys keeping both camps in suspense while retaining good relations with both candidates. Asked this week whether he would endorse Townsend now that she has endorsed him, Schaefer replied, "We'll see. I've done everything except jump through hoops."

Meanwhile, opinions are mixed about Willis' prospects. Certainly Schaefer has overwhelming advantages when it comes to money and name recognition. One friend called Willis' campaign "a fool's errand," and there is some speculation that Willis is merely enjoying making Schaefer sweat and will drop out before the July 11 withdrawal deadline. But another friend noted that Willis is friendly with every county Democratic leader in the state, has loyalists of his own in state government and has studied Maryland elections for so long that he may have a secret formula for winning.

"We'll have a statewide organization within two weeks," Willis said. "I've been in every town from Friendsville to Crisfield to Elkton, every corner of the state. So I'll just be going back to towns I've been to many times."

Calvert County Commissioner Robert L. "Bobby" Swann (D), Goldstein's longtime deputy who served as acting comptroller after his death, said Willis called him Monday night after he filed to set up a meeting to talk about the race.

"John called me and said, 'I have a theory on how I can do this,'" Swann said of the short and vague conversation. "I told him I would meet with him when we could get a date set up. He didn't tell me anything specific about his plans."