Vision Circle

Mfume and Maryland Senate Race

This is a piece by a Maryland political commentator. He's "plugged into" Maryland Democratic politics and has a decent understanding of what goes on. However, he doesn't get the Black sde of Maryland politics very well, IMO.

But this piece about the senate race to replace Sarbanes is good for some thought:

Here’s the deal: The hypothetical match-up between Kwiesi Mfume and Lt. Gov. Michael Steele comes down to this: Voters will get to choose between a man in a dashiki with six illegitimate sons and an ex-seminarian who goes to mass every Sunday with his wife and kids.

But Senate race 2006 is unlikely to produce such a contrast between the two black candidates. And the reason is that Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin will likely spoil the equation.
Assume that’s the case, and Mfume’s a loser either way – to Cardin in the primary election, or to Steele in the general. Assume further that in a Cardin-Steele face-off, Cardin will carry the election for the Democrats and retain the seat of Sen. Paul Sarbanes.

And if Cardin tip-toes into the fray, as is his cogito, ergo sum approach to politics, he’s likely to squeeze out other Democrats as well.
The new paradigm in politics is the so-called 527 committee, i.e., Swift Boat Veterans, that operate as vigilante groups outside the margins of formal campaigns. Consider how the Swift Boat Vets bludgeoned John Kerry and think, for a moment, how a similar shadow group will decapitate Mfume.

To be sure, Mfume packs a ton of baggage leftover from his incendiary past and his louche life as a wastrel youth, just the right stuff for slice-and-dice attack television ads. To his everlasting credit, though, Mfume picked himself up, dusted himself off and went on to become virtually the president of black America as head of the NAACP.