Election

Top state Democrats expressed surprise and irritation yesterday that Rep. Peter W. Rodino Jr., the dean of New Jersey's congressional delegation, had said he would seek another term this year. Two years ago, Rodino promised that he would retire in 1988, opening the way for new blood in the 10th Congressional District, which includes all of Newark and most of Essex County. Rodino's heir-apparent was seen as Newark Councilman Donald M. Payne, who, if elected, would be New Jersey's first black congressman.

He wasn't on the ballot, but Mayor Rendell lost big last night. Ward leader Rosita Youngblood won a landslide victory, beating four other candidates - including Rendell's - in a special election in the 198th state House District yesterday. Rendell backed former Deputy Mayor Charles Greene in the election to fill the eight months remaining on Bob O'Donnell's term. O'Donnell quit in December to run for governor. The district covers more than a half-dozen neighborhoods in the city's north and northwest.

A Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judge has approved a petition from the North Penn School District to reorganize its election system from a regional configuration to one in which candidates are elected at-large. The petition was signed Tuesday by Judge Horace A. Davenport after a hearing. The new system is effective immediately, according to District Solicitor Charles Potash. The change will most immediately affect five school board posts whose terms expire in December 1991.

Republican U.S. Sen. William V. Roth Jr. yesterday announced he will seek re-election to a fourth term. Roth made the announcement, which had been expected, in each of the state's three counties. "You sent me to Washington with a message: Cut taxes. Give government back to the people," said Roth, 66, who co-sponsored the 1981 Kemp-Roth federal tax cut. "Well, today, as I embark on this new campaign, I report on my stewardship. And I'm proud to say our message is being heard loud and clear.

The less things change, the more things stay the same in Lower Gwynedd. The Lower Gwynedd Board of Supervisors made quick work this week of deciding who will bang the gavel as its chairman in 1989. That supervisor is Ed Brandt. Brandt, first elected as chairman of the board in 1988, was the unanimous choice of the five supervisors at their reorganization meeting Tuesday night. Or was he? "Nobody saw me vote," said Supervisor Dick Landis. To be sure, Landis did not raise his voice when the vote was taken.

Promising to create a robust Democratic Party in the county, David A. Byerman of Malvern was elected chairman of the Chester County Democratic Committee last night, defeating longtime party activist Barbara Cooper. He will complete the unexpired term of former chairman Shawn March, a single father and new business owner, who resigned after the May primary election, saying he did not have enough time to carry out his party duties. Although a relative newcomer to Chester County, Byerman has risen rapidly in the party ranks.

The San Francisco 49ers' threats about leaving town are gone in the thrill of victory. After pulling out a heart-stopping, election-day victory in a drive for a new stadium, the team hurried to renew its vows to the city and looked ahead to building its dream home. "I think we created something special here. I didn't want to lose it," club owner Eddie DeBartolo said early yesterday after learning the final tallies from Tuesday's balloting put the team's proposed $525 million stadium-mall over the top - barely.

Democratic supervisor candidate Dick Scott has withdrawn from the November election because of illness. Former auditor Steve Wojciechowski will take his place. Wojciechowski will run in November with incumbent Frank Burstein for the two seats held by Burstein and Patricia Stephens, who is not running again. Republican candidates are Bernie O'Neill and Thomas Panzer. Warminster Democratic Party Chairman Mike Monoghan said Scott informed the party in a letter that he was withdrawing his candidacy because he has "aggravated emphysema.

The Democratic Party hopes the 1988 election will be a replay of 1976, when the combination of a White House scandal and a weak nominee cost the Republicans their hold on the presidency. But the Democrats shouldn't bet that the Iran-contra affair will have the impact of Watergate, or that Gerald Ford will be reincarnated at the head of the GOP ticket. They would be better off looking for parallels in another election that brought a Democratic victory - 1960. A glance at the crowded Democratic field of declared or likely candidates - Gary Hart, Jesse Jackson, Michael Dukakis, Bruce Babbitt, Richard Gephardt, Albert Gore Jr., Joseph Biden, Paul Simon - underlines what may be the crucial element in the next presidential contest.

IF THE POLLS stay as they are and Barack Obama wins the presidency in November, countless armchair quarterbacks will theorize how it happened: Was it Obama's ground game? An economy in freefall? John McCain's negativity? Anger at a Republican president? Young people and minorities coming out to vote in record numbers? Gov. Sarah Palin kissing a New York Ranger before dropping the puck at the Flyers home opener? A desire to end the Iraq war? Or maybe just Obama getting all the terrorist-supporting Muslim radicals in his "Manchurian Candidate"-like sleeper cell out to the polls before they turn America into an Arab-speaking Socialist country?