October 31, 2006
Currying favor
via Memeorandum
Wayne Curry, former Prince George's County Executive and a number of other notable black Democrats have thrown their support behind Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele's bid for the senate.
Mr. Curry and the lawmakers said Democratic leaders repeatedly have snubbed the black community and their county, noting the lack of party support for the Senate campaign of former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chief Kweisi Mfume, who lost the Democratic primary to Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin. The Democratic ticket lacks black candidates, they said, and candidates from Prince George's County, which is home to more than 320,000 registered Democrats -- the most of any jurisdiction in Maryland. "We're not puppets. We're not gullible," Mr. Curry said during a press conference at the Infusion Tea Cafe in Largo. "This ain't the first time we've charged up a hill." He was joined by fellow black Democrats David Harrington of Bladensburg, Samuel H. Dean of Bowie, Camille A. Exum of Capitol Heights, Tony Knotts of Temple Hills and Marilyn Bland of Clinton -- all officials on the nine-member county council. Other black Democratic leaders endorsing Mr. Steele yesterday included Major Riddick, former chief of staff for former Gov. Parris N. Glendening; Ron Lipscomb, a major fundraiser and trustee of the state party; and businessmen Clayton Duhaney and M.A. "Mike" Little.
According to the Washington Post there are those who think this will be significant.
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."
Not surprisingly Representative Ben Cardin's spokesman still thinks he's running against George Bush.
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.
And even if the endorsements help, the Washington Post suggests that it won't help enough.
According to a recent Washington Post poll, Steele trailed Cardin by 11 percentage points. The lieutenant governor has support from only 14 percent of black voters, despite an aggressive bid for their support, the poll shows.
(Noticeably absent here is any mention of http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2006/senate/md/maryland_senate_race-114.html showing a much closer race.) And of course the Post's reporter demands that Curry explain why he doesn't consider Mayor O'Malley's running mate, Anthony Brown a sign that Democrats weren't showing enough respect to African Americans.
Earlier the Washington Times reported that Curry's endorsement may carry a lot of weight, even this late in the campaign.
Mr. Curry also made a dramatic, last-minute endorsement in this year's Democratic primary for Prince George's county executive. One week before the primary, Mr. Curry endorsed challenger Rushern Baker, who drew even in polls with incumbent Jack Johnson, from 10 to 15 points out.
Mr. Johnson still won the primary by a narrow margin.
It's important to add that Curry's support may really have less to do with the marginalization of African American politicians than it does with the Ehrlich-Steele PG County strategy. Curry isn't just a Democrat. He's also become a political ally of Gov. Ehrlich's.
Wayne Curry has been flirting with Republicans for years now, so I am not sure exactly what impact this will really have. It isn’t like this is something that just came out of the blue or wasn;t partially expected. Cripes, for years, Curry has been rumored to be a potential GOP nominee for the US Senate prior to Steele’s entry into the race.
I don't know how serious the Wayne Curry running as Republican talk was. I do know that he was invited to be part of Governor Ehrlich's transition team. Currently is serving on the board of the Maryland Stadium Authority; appointed by Ehrlich.
While Benjamin Cardin's campaign continued to mumble about George Bush hand-picking Steele, these black politicians understand more that Cardin was hand-picked by the party establishment over the more well-known and potentially stronger Kweisi Mfume, the former NAACP leader and Congressman. His marginalization in the primary has come at a cost, and it's starting to become significant.
I didn't see Mfume marginalized. He wasn't as strong a candidate as Cardin and he had baggage. It turned out that the scandal that was mentioned about him at the start of the campaign evaporated, but unless he can tie it to Cardin, I don't see how Mfume's failure to win the campaign represents any sort of a marginalization. (One of the Democrats blamed for the marginalization is Rep.Steny Hoyer, who supported Stuart Simms over Doug Gansler in the primary for Maryland's Attorney General.)
Outside the Beltway concludes (taking all polls into account)
A 5.3% gap a week from the election is going to be hard to close.
I don't know if Steele will win but it appears that he will make this race a lot closer than anyone thought. Political analyst Charlie Cook changed his outlook on the race from "leaning Democratic" to "tossup" a few days ago.
Regardless, when someone looks back at this campaign, they'll be amazed to the degree that Ben Cardin ran against President Bush instead of running on his legislative record. A candidate with 40 years of accomplishments should have a big advantage over a relative newcomer. Instead Cardin turned negative and fell into the Michael Steele hates puppies trap. It's not just Steele's charisma that has made this race interesting; it's also been Cardin's arrogance. He ran his campaign like he assumed that he deserved the promotion to and coronation as Senator after 40 years of distinguished legislative experience.
UPDATE: More at Buzztracker.
RedState makes the best case I've seen for the marginalization argument.
Other members of the Maryland Blogger Alliance have weighed in on the endorsement.
Kevin Dayhoff provides the background of one of the other politicians to join Curry.
Councilman Harrington is very thoughtful and well-measured in his deliberations about leadership politics and government. He is a rising star and for him to cross party lines to participate in the endorsement of Michael Steele is a big deal. I served on the MML Board of Directors with Mr. Harrington for a number of years and grew to really appreciate his judgment. He does not suffer fools easily. Look for him to move up to Prince George’s County executive in the coming years.
Crablaw goes after a couple of Cardin missteps. (Though I believe he supports Cardin.)
Smart move, Ben, ducking the Charles County NAACP debate. Really smart. Oh yeah, not knowing the biggest transportation plan in a bi-county region of 1.8 million people out of the 5.6 million you aim to represent...where? In the Senate?
Technorati tags: Michael Steele, Wayne Curry, Ben Cardin, Election 2006, Maryland, Maryland Politics.
Posted by SoccerDad at October 31, 2006 2:01 PM | TrackBack
