RCP Calls MD Senate for Michael Steele

Jay Bryant at Real Clear Politics says that the recent endorsement of GOP candidate Michael Steele by a group of African American Democrats "might be the most important political development in the country this week." According to

University of Maryland political scientist Ron Walters, yesterday's endorsements are "going to go through the black community like a rocket. It's going to be the talk of the county, the state, maybe even the nation."

The endorsements by all five of the black Democrats on the Prince George's County Council and former County Executive Wayne Curry come at a time when Steele needed the boost. However, Democratic candidate Ben Cardin (who is white) called it nothing more than an endorsement of Steele's race. Bryant notes that Steele is from Prince George's county, in fact prior to becoming Lt. Governor, Steele headed the county's Republican party and has spent much of his political career building in-roads for the GOP among the county's middle class and affluent black citizens.

Part of it is that Steele is a Prince Georgian. The county leaders know him, like him and respect him. But that alone wouldn't be nearly enough to cause them to break ranks with their party in a critical election.

What it's really all about is that blacks in Maryland have begun to realize that they've been being snookered by the white-dominated Democratic Party all these years. As Riddick put it, "They've been showing us a pie, but we never get a slice."

Voting statistics aren't kept by race, of course; they call it a "secret ballot" after all. But if you work out the math, you can pretty easily demonstrate that something like half of all Maryland Democratic voters are black. Half!

What have Maryland blacks gotten for their loyalty to the party? Virtually nothing. Oh, sure, they get representatives to legislative offices in districts where they have the overwhelming majority. Occasionally they get to be Mayor of Baltimore - although the current mayor is white, and running for Governor, something no black mayor could even seriously consider.

Indeed, in the entire history of the state of Maryland, exactly one person of African-American heritage has been elected to any statewide office. His name is Michael Steele.

But there are, I believe three other motivations and none have to do with Steele's race.

First, Steele is a massive proponent of education and is not beholden to the education establishment. The county, which is the wealthiest majority black county in the nation, still suffers from poor schools in much of its territory. Steele, who lead Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich's commission on education, has been a big proponent of education change, including school choice and even vouchers. The Prince George's leaders want change in education and will support a leader who seeks that change.

Second, Steele, like many Republicans, strongly supports small business. While the black leaders and Steele may disagree on minimum wage and other workplace issues, all realize that small business is likely to bring about advancement in the county for poor blacks and anything that can be done to bring about more capital investment in the county the better off the county will be.

Third, and finally, there is a little bit of regionalism going on here. For decades, going back at least 50 years, all of the major state wide offices, Governor, U.S. Senator, Comptroller and Attorney General have been held usually by people (true, white people) from the Baltimore area. Aside from Parris Glendenning, Ehrlich's predecessor in the Governor's mansion, no non-Baltimore person has been governor in nearly a century. With the massive growth of the Washington suburban counties, like Prince George's, Montgomery, Frederick, Howard, and southern Maryland, many people are looking for a shift away from the Baltimore-centric politics of the past.

Many statewide offices this year will be won by someone not from the Baltimore area; not governor, since Ehrlich and Democratic candidate Martin O'Malley are both from Baltimore, but Attorney General (Republican Scott Rolle is from Frederick County and Democrat Doug Ganzler is from Montgomery) and Comptroller (where heavy favorite Peter Franchot is from Montgomery). The retiring Paul Sarbanes, who held the Senate seat Cardin and Steele are vying for, is from Baltimore as is Maryland's other Senator Barbara Mikulski.

These black leaders in Prince George's county no doubt believe that it is time that the U.S. Senate have a Marylander not from the Baltimore area.

Does race play a part, I am sure it does, and that is part of the appeal of Michael Steele to blacks. High profile endorsements like these from P.G. County and that of media mogul Russell Simmons (who endorsed Steele's opponent in 2002) may mean that, at least in Maryland, there may be a sea change in black voting patterns in the state. Six more days and we will know.