Posted on 03/25/2006 7:11:44 PM PST by aculeus
It was last spring when Karl Rove called Michael Steele, the lieutenant governor of Maryland, to sell him on running for the Senate, and to close the deal, Rove paused to put President Bush on the phone. As Steele recalls it, the president's adviser said, "Here, the boss wants to talk to you." Steele froze, then demurred. "I went, 'No, no thank you.' I was so stunned that he was going to hand the phone to the president. I said, 'That's all right, we'll have that call later.' I couldn't believe it." Other top Republicans called. Senator Elizabeth Dole. Ken Mehlman, the party chairman. One day Steele's cellphone rang, and Vice President Dick Cheney was on the other end.
Steele is the first African-American elected to statewide office in Maryland, which is usually one of the most reliably Democratic states in the nation. The counties bordering Washington are relentlessly liberal, as is its largest city, Baltimore. Steele lives in Prince George's County, which used to be tobacco plantations and is now the wealthiest majority-black county in the United States and normally a huge trove of Democratic votes. But to a Republican Party intent on securing its ascendancy by building a new base among America's minorities, Maryland looks like a land of opportunity. And a place where Democrats might be caught sleeping.
Open and personable, Steele had a prominent speaking role at the Republican convention in 2004, and by the following spring the Republican hierarchy was trying to coax him into the Senate race. The field was kept clear. Money was promised.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Democrats must really be scared of this guy, digging into his personal records and such.
I've already sent him my first contribution.
And then getting some staffer to take the fall for it, even though Upchuck Schumer kept her on the payroll for several months after it happened.
Typical Times. The article in the link has the word "Republican" italicized. Can you imagine the hand-wringing and nervous breakdown the author had writing this article? ("But....but this can't be...blacks are supposed to vote with Dems.")
:)
that sounds like their MO
They certainly are. They can't hurt him using criminal methods apparently, so they'll resort to the tried and true method of smearing/mytholiogizing him in newspapers, just like they tried with Bush and pretty much succeeded in doing with Cheney.
No Thank You I wont be registering. As a Maryland resident who is sick and tired of being ignored by Senators sarbanes and Mikulski i can tell you I dont care who talked Mr. Steele into running. I am just glad he is.
One of his opponents if Kweisi Mfume, thats right the same guy who was thrown out of the NAACP presidency becasue he couldnt keep his hands off the women there. The same man with 5 illigitimate kids and running for maryland Senate. A disgrace. This is the democrats offer for Senator in Maryland. I would think any right thinking Marylander would be happy to see Mr. Steele running in this race.
No doubt he has Democrats worried as Senator Chuckie Schumr has already had the temerity to have Mr. Steeles credit record investigated by his staff. Dem Dirty tricks run amuck in Maryland.
I will be voting for Mr. Steele and I hope to encourage any people of my acquaintance to do like wise.
"All the lies that are fit to print", which in the NYT's case, is just about anything Hillary "commander-in-deceit", tells them to print.
The thing that gets me is the blatant double-standards the lib media have with black Republicans. Black Dems like Obama and Mosely-Braun got fawned over 24/7; yet not a peep of national coverage for Steele, as well as Blackwell in OH and Lynn Swann in PA.
Thats because their not really black they're black /sarcasm
Why is he a Republican, anyway? Steele's answer is that it all goes back to his mother. (No politician ever lost votes by overreferencing his mother, who, in this case, was not made available for an interview.) In his neighborhood growing up, "everyone — cousins, friends and neighbors — was always asking her why she didn't take public assistance. 'Why don't you stand in line and get a check?"' His mother, a Democrat with pictures of Martin Luther King Jr. and J.F.K. on the wall at home, would answer the same way every time: "Because I don't want the government raising my kids."
(Good Answer!!!!!!!!)
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