RCP Claims Blacks in MD still Pissed at Dems for trashing Mfume, could elect Steele

[Leopolds Ghost]

Unfortunately, RCP is probably right.

Riven by racially-biased voting on both sides of the PG-MoCo line
(PG is mostly black, MoCo is mostly white) PG County Dems outside
of DC just endorsed Steele.

Of course, the upper-class rulers of Middleburg and Upper Marlboro are DLC Dems
first and foremost, on the right end of the Democratic spectrum. They could have
an interest in Republicans remaining in power, since they want nothing to do with
the poor in their district, who are fleeing DC Mayor Tony Williams' misrule.

Wayne Curry, one of the endorsers, explicitly said "we don't want poor people
from DC coming into our county and settling here." It is always amusing to hear
talking heads claim DC area politicians like Curry must be "ultra-liberal"
because they are black and have a (D) next to their name. They make the same
claims about how Pelosi must keep her "liberal black committee chairmen in check."

They are sadly misinformed on multiple levels. If we had real liberals in power,
and those liberals happened to be black, I would advise them to hire bodyguards
in the current political climate... or run as a Republican and switch parties
after the fact. (Look what happened to Cynthia McKinney.)

But that doesn't stop white Dems from putting up a united front against Mfume,
because they "thought they knew" rural whites would never vote for someone
with a Swahili name like Mfume ... or, say, Obama. That is the Maryland mentality.

Real Clear Politics:

Big Endorsement for Steele
Posted by JOHN MCINTYRE | E-Mail This | Permalink | Email RCP

Maryland tilts strongly Democratic, but what many people don't realize is a sizable number of Democratic votes in Maryland come from only 3 of the 24 counties in the state. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend got 48% of the vote against Gov. Bob Ehrlich, but only won Prince George's, Montgomery and Baltimore City. Prince George's county is the most affluent African-American county in the United States and is home to 320, 000 registered Democrats. Yesterday, Prince George's former county executive Wayne Curry and five fellow black Democrats from the County Council endorsed the Republican Michael Steele.

This endorsement carries an enormous amount of weight in Maryland's African-American community in the Washington suburbs. With Steele himself a Washington and PG County native, and his opponent a long-time Baltimore City congressman, Steele is well-positioned to eat into this traditional Democratic stronghold.

A quick look at the RCP Chart of this race shows Steele steadily climbing the last three weeks. He trails Cardin by 5.3% in the latest RCP Average. If he can pull to within 3 points the odds for scoring the big upset will increase dramatically.

Interesting that the two states that sandwich Washington DC may see the biggest upsets on election night.

[KingFlorez]

1. RCP is right-wing

Cardin should take Baltimore City easily, as well as Prince Georges.

[davidinalameda]

2. there was an article in the Wash Post this weekend about this

scary article

[bigtree]

18. fearmongering

Maryland Democrats are not going to get up this morning and go to the polls to elect a republican. There's absolutely no motivation for them to do this. The motivation for Maryland Democrats is the same as the rest of the nation, to take away Bush's republican, enabling majority. Cardin is well known here, and well liked. There's NOTHING to indicate that there's some move from any quarter (except from the opposition) to mount some sort of protest vote. Nor is there any indication that there is any widespread dislike of Cardin. The Stelle appeal is a media myth, driven by the McClatchy poll. I expect Cardin to win by 6-8 percent.

[KamaAina]

3. Oh. RCP = Real Clear Politics.

For a second there I thought it meant the Revolutionary Communist Party! :eyes:

[Leopolds Ghost]

5. Same degree of the spectrum, wrong end. RCP is far left; RCP.com is far right.

Unfortunately, RCP.com is probably right about this issue.

People, especially liberal African Americans, are pissed at what they did to Mfume, and conservative Dems like Wayne Curry and Al Wynn (the Zell Miller of the CBC) are playing on that dissatisfaction to suit their own interests.

I personally am pissed about how my county voted 70% against Mfume while PG-county voted 90% in favor of Mfume -- down the line race-based voting in the Democratic Party primary. No progress since the 1950s whatsoever, it seems.

[dsc]

4. That is total bs

Mfume's problem wasn't his name it was his personal life coupled with a divisive (to be charitable) reign at the NAACP.

[Leopolds Ghost]

6. I'm sorry you had a problem with Mfume's personal life

He would have made a good Senator.

As it is, the best case scenario is Cardin because otherwise we lose the Senate.

Ask anyone on the left in Montgomery/PG -- or anyone at all in PG, really -- what they think of Mfume versus Cardin in the primary. Folks on the left here in MoCo were very much in favor of Mfume, and we were outgunned the same way supporters of Paul Hackett (recently described as "far left activists" on the Dem-leaning Electoral-vote.com) were outgunned.

In general, the "far left" is increasingly libeled as being in favor of "traditional
interest group politics" whereas "mainstream African Americans" and "mainstream Dems"
are defined as those of us who think race no longer matters. That is the media spin.

[dsc]

7. Had he won the primary

this race would have been lost on day one. We would have heard non stop mistress of the day stories. Added to that would have been several sexual harassment complaints from his tenure at the NAACP. He lost the primary because his own flaws were too strong, not because of racists.

[Leopolds Ghost]

10. Nonsense

And that's not why Montgomerians voted against him.

The stereotype was that someone named Kweisi Mfume
must be some wild-eyed Cynthia Mckinney-type,
inner-city politician. That is the stereotype and
that is why Dems thought Mfume was unwinnable.

It's a moot point now, we must deal with the consequences
and find a way to get Cardin over the top. A lot of folks
who would have voted for Mfume will probably vote for
Steele, or Kevin Zeese. That is why Mfume would have been
the better candidate.

[dsc]

12. I am sure that some were racist

but most were looking for a winner and didn't think it was Mfume. He showed no ability at all to raise money (and before you say that was a race problem, Obama and Ford are money machines) and he had serious baggage. I don't live in Maryland but I never would have voted for Mfume in a primary due to those factors.

[dsc]

9. Hacket withdrew because he was going to lose to Brown

I will say he had every right to be pissed that Brown jumped in after saying he wouldn't but the primary voters in Ohio preferred Brown to him. It wasn't some evil plot.

[Proud MD Liberal]

8. Sad, but true

PG County is becoming more and more affluent and I think the whole GOP economic talking points (tax cut, tax cut, no welfare) gets some traction. Also, don't discount the very large church congregations that line routes 214 and 450 and have sprung up within the last 5 years. There's also a tension between Baltimore v. DC in statewide races. Given all of that, I am somewhat hopeful. Though Gov. Bobby Haircut does have some strange broad appeal... :shrug:

[newyawker99]

19. Hi Proud MD Liberal!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. 2 questions: first, how was Mfume "trashed" by the Dems? Second--

What is the distinction you just made between RCP and RCP.com being left, and right, respectively?

If RCP = "Real Clear Politics" I'm only aware of one entity, realclearpolitics.com, which appears to be a clearly Right Wing site if you spend some time there nosing around.

[Leopolds Ghost]

13. Two answers:

1. You'll have to go back on the Internet and look into the subject. It's been widely talked about in Maryland. I don't have any hard statistics to provide you. The fact that Mfume (the liberal candidate) lost in affluent white, liberal Montgomery County by 70% to 30% (almost the exact ratio of blacks to whites there) while Mfume won in the relatively conservative, suburban, majority black Prince Georges County by 90%, and Cardin has not gone after Mfume's supporters in a serious way since that time, is telling. Steele is busily campaigning hard in PG County while Cardin is sticking mostly to upcounty Montgomery County looking for liberal white exurbanites and retirees as of last night. Like I said, it's the talk of the town hereabouts in Maryland.

2. It was a joke. Someone said the only RCP they knew about was the Revolutionary Communist Party. 60's reference perhaps? I said no, that RCP is on the other end of the spectrum.

[many a good man]

14. MoCo is 49% white now

AA population has remained steady, huge increases in Latins and Asians.

[hertopos]

15. I live in Maryland

I am sorry to say but you are caught by Republican Tactics in Maryland.
All you are saying are based on what Republican Radio show has been repeating. One thing I know for a fact is that Mfume and Cardin have been very good friends each other for quite sometime. As a result, their primary battle was one or the most cordial one.

I do believe a lot of Greens in MD are benefiting Republican. I knew personally a few former supporter of Duncan became Green supporter. They even showed up in local Repub leaned Radio show.

I don't think Md Dem did anything wrong or insensitive. However, that 'Car salesman' and 'puppy hugging I am very special guy' are really good marketers.
I live in Baltimore City and many truly loves O'Malley. Yes, Baltimore still have a lot of problem but our Mayor made a huge difference that was unseen for several decades!! ( Pretty much since 70's)

That 'used car salesman' used State money to keep doing PR job to create ' a likable personality'.
I really cannot stand them.

Hertopos

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

16. I don't see how the fact that Mfume lost in MoCo and won in PG proves he was

"trashed".

I'm from MoCo originally, and lived in PG, and I wasn't aware that the black part of PG was "conservative".

[bigtree]

17. bullshit

No way any anger at the failure of Mfume, a liberal, would cause folks to go to the polls to elect a republican. In our state, in PG county, there is no evidence that Curry can lead anyone to vote for a republican Steele. I don't believe it. For that to happen there would have to be som animosity about Cardin. There is absolutely none. There is no reason for Democrats to take time to go to the polls to reject Cardin, and Steele hasn't given any reason why Democrats should look twice at him.