Enormous Development In MD Senate Race

Posted on October 31, 2006 by Gaius

A group of black county officials from one on the most important counties in Maryland have broken with the Democratic party. The officials are backing Michael Steele in his bid for the US Senate seat in Maryland. This is a potentially devastating blow to the Democrat, Benjamin Cardin. This may well put Steele over the top.

A coalition of black Democratic political leaders from Prince George's County led by former county executive Wayne K. Curry endorsed Republican Michael S. Steele's bid for the U.S. Senate yesterday.

The support from Curry, five County Council members and others barely a week before Election Day reflects their continued disappointment that the Democratic Party has no African American candidates at the top of the ticket and a sense that the county is being ignored, officials said.

"They show us a pie, but we never get a slice," said Major F. Riddick Jr., a former aide to then-Gov. Parris N. Glendening and a former county executive candidate. "We are here today to say we've waited and we've waited and we're waiting no longer."

Steele, who as lieutenant governor is the first African American elected statewide in Maryland, said he was humbled by the support. "I said I did not want this [campaign] to be so much about party but about the people," he said. "And these people understand that."

Ron Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, said the endorsements could be significant. "This is going to go through the black community like a rocket," he said. "It's going to be the talk of the county, the state, maybe even the nation."

Oren Shur, a spokesman for the Democratic Senate candidate, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, was more skeptical. "The endorsements will not make Prince George's County residents forget that Michael Steele is George W. Bush's handpicked candidate," he said.

Considering the fact that Steele has distanced himself publicly from Bush makes that particular statement sound rather desperate. And I think they should be desperate. Prince George's county is a big, big chunk of the electorate in Maryland.

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3 Responses to Enormous Development In MD Senate Race

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  2. daveinboca says:
    October 31, 2006 at 9:15 am

    I once lived in Prince George’s County where wealthy blacks and whites live in racial harmony, far from the cocktail chattering-class inane psychobabble of Montgomery County “liberals” who are all appendages of the US government sugar-daddy in D.C.

    Steele, who as lieutenant governor is the first African American elected statewide in Maryland, said he was humbled by the support. “I said I did not want this [campaign] to be so much about party but about the people,” he said. “And these people understand that.”

    Ron Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, said the endorsements could be significant. “This is going to go through the black community like a rocket,” he said. “It’s going to be the talk of the county, the state, maybe even the nation.”

    The Maryland Dems are dependent on the black vote, but throw only occasional political crumbs to their single largest constituency. The unions and old-time Baltimore white nabobs control the party, and have selected one of their hacks, a party-line white limousine liberal, instead of a qualified black who was narrowly beaten in the primary.

    I hope Steele pulls out a victory, as the hypocritical smug stand-patism of the liberal Maryland Dems needs a shake-up very badly.

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