Maryland Turning Into Steele Country?

It's too early to tell what the effect is but Steele's getting hip-hop artist Russell Simmons to appear in a Steele commercial can't hurt Steele's chances. The ads will air in Baltimore.
The 60-second TV commercial features footage from a recent fundraiser that Mr. Simmons hosted in Baltimore for Mr. Steele. It shows Mr. Simmons onstage in a T-shirt and blue jeans, saying: "The lieutenant governor is clear on his mission. He said he wants to fight poverty and ignorance,Now I'm here to endorse him."
The fact that this advertisement is airing in Baltimore should scare the daylights out of Maryland Democrats, especially if Ben Cardin wins Tuesday's Democratic primary. What this advertisement does is put pressure on Maryland Democrats to elect Kweisi Mfume or else risk losing a significant amount of black support. Cardin is thought to be the stronger candidate based on polling in a head-to-head matchup with Steele. In my opinion, this changes the dynamic of this race because Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend didn't pick a black for her running mate in 2002. If they ignore a black liberal with high name recognition for another white guy, you can count on Maryland's minorities noticing that their votes are welcome but that they don't get a seat at the Democrats' 'power table'.
Mr. Steele called Mr. Simmons' appearance in the spot, which began airing in the Washington and Baltimore markets yesterday, "an enormous boost." Mr. Steele also said he plans to spend most of the next two months on a tour bus, traveling to events and meeting voters. The bus tour will begin Tuesday night. "He will aggressively barnstorm the state," Steele spokesman Doug Heye said. "Voters who meet Michael Steele react positively to Michael Steele. We want to make sure the lieutenant governor talks to as many Marylanders as possible."
In short, Steele's strategy is to get outside the Agenda Media's filter so that people can get to know him and his policies instead of letting him fall prey to their mischaracterizations.
Mr. Simmons surprised many in the black community last month when he endorsed Mr. Steele and headlined the Baltimore fundraiser. Mr. Mfume is on the board of directors of Mr. Simmons' political action group, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. Mr. Simmons said he supports Mr. Steele because of his commitment to help the black community build wealth. Mr. Simmons said, "Some of the things [Mr. Steele] is doing are inspiring, and maybe moving Democrats to pay attention."
TRANSLATION: Simmons thinks that Steele's commitment commitment to helping "the black community build wealth" through "inspiring" policies will move black Democrats into the Republican column.

That thought scares the daylights out of Democrats. That is if they aren't in denial.



Posted Thursday, September 7, 2006 12:54 PM

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