I'm watching Maryland politics with tremendous interest.  On the heels of Al Wynn's stolen election, I see Michael Steele attempting to run a campaign entirely based on African-American resentment of Democratic fecklessness and institutional racism.  Gregory Kane at BlackAmericaWeb sums up this attitude.

So, once again, black folks in Maryland got chumped by the Democratic Party.

Think of it as a quadrennial tradition. In 2002, Maryland's Democratic Party chumped black folks. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, then lieutenant governor of Maryland who was running for governor as a Democrat, overlooked dozens of qualified black Democrats to choose a white running mate.

She lost.

Republican candidate Robert Ehrlich, then a congressman, chose Michael Steele, a black Republican, as his running mate. Ehrlich is now governor of Maryland, running for a second term. The first black candidate elected to statewide office in Maryland -- lieutenant governor -- was a black Republican, not a black Democrat.

This year, two black Democratic candidates ran for statewide office. Former congressman and NAACP president Kweisi Mfume ran for a U.S. Senate seat. Stuart Simms, a former Baltimore state's attorney who headed both the state departments of juvenile services and correctional services and public safety, ran for attorney general of Maryland.

Last week, both Mfume and Simms lost, rejected by the majority of Maryland's Democrats. And what were the Republicans doing? What the Democrats failed to do in 2002: Making history.

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By this time, Republicans are saying "been there, done that" regarding putting a black candidate on the gubernatorial ticket. They've moved on to making a black candidate running on his own the party's nominee for a statewide office.

And what are Maryland Democrats doing? Like I said before, chumping black folks.

The rejection of both Mfume and Simms should provide Maryland's black Democrats with some food for thought and prompt some questions. And the first question should be why white Maryland Democrats don't vote for black Democratic candidates for statewide office in the same proportion black Maryland Democrats vote for white candidates for statewide office.

This resentment isn't fake, and it could have political resonance.  Political and social icon Russell Simmons endorsed Steele, and the anger at Mfume's loss in the primary might boomerang.  At the same time, Michael Steele's signs are identifying him as a Democrat.  He's not talking about Iraq, taxes, social justice, or anything substantive, and has called George Bush 'my homeboy'.  

Michael Steele's campaign is that of a dilettante, completely devoid of real political discussion.  It's sort of working, with the polls tightening in Maryland.  Before Cardin's primary win, it was conventional wisdom that Cardin would just kill Steele, and that Mfume was the less viable of the two.  I supported Mfume in the primary because I never bought this line, and while I don't expect Steele to win this, it's important to realize that the resentment that Steele is playing on is very real.  Despite a very large cash advantage, Cardin only narrowly beat Mfume, 43.8 to 40.4 in the primary.  Cardin's a good guy, and a real progressive, but he's an insider who is tied into the Hoyer machine and isn't the heroic candidate-type that plays well in 2006.

Both the New Jersey race and the Maryland race are closer than they should be at this point, and I'm not really worried about either of them.  But the fact that we're not destroying these largely superficial candidates with a President as unpopular as Bush in very blue states suggests some real structural weakness in both states.

What I expect in Maryland going forward is that Steele will run two campaigns, and will have a strategic vulnerability that Cardin can exploit.  One campaign will be targeted at African-Americans, and will involve discussions of ethics and independents.  It will hinge on the narrative of Democrats taking black voters for granted, but will largely skirt substantive discussion of what Steele would do in the Senate.  It's a protest vote strategy, and blurring the lines between the parties is key.  The second campaign will be done with direct mail, and will involve getting GOP base voters to the polls with traditional extreme right-wing rhetoric.  

Maryland Democrats must find the right-wing direct mail that Steele is sending out or that is being sent out on Steele's behalf, and put it online.  Cardin has to point out that Steele isn't being straightforward about who he is, and that's why he lacks substance.  

Update: Gilliard says I'm wrong about Steele's appeal to African-Americans.

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Brought to you by Jill Tubman of Jack and Jill Politics

This week, a controversial photo snapped at a blogger lunch in Harlem with Bill Clinton is under much discussion in the progressive blackosphere. You can follow the conversation here, here, here, and here And responses here and here. I know many of the bloggers in the photo -- including Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller of MyDD -- to be tireless workers against racism in America. I agree with Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft that:

There should have been a greater attempt made to include minority bloggers. But I think it was unintentional. I will bet that when there's another such event, and there will be, whether it's by President Clinton or another Democrat, there will be a greater effort to include a more diverse group of bloggers.

There's a problem with this photo and what it implies about how the power structure is changing -- and who might get left behind. Let's not deny that and make excuses. Instead, let's talk about how to fix it. The Republic of T has a great post on Blogging While Brown that offers a thoughtful commentary on the big picture here (pun intended).

What do you think? Jack and Jill Politics asks you to help us think about how to include more diverse voices from the blogs and beyond to the table of progressive politics so that pictures like this look different from now on.

More news in minorities and politics after the jump.

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Tomorrow there are a bunch of primaries in Maryland.  I'd probably vote for Mfume over Cardin on the Senate side.  Mfume's just more dynamic, and Cardin's part of the Hoyer machine.  Both candidates are good people.

In Maryland's 4th, obviously I'm a big Donna Edwards fan.  She's gotten a bunch of good press today, including this piece by CQ and this one at BlackAmericaWeb.  The Washington Post ran a disgraceful 'he said she said' terrible article on Wynn's fake endorsements by John Wagner and Ovetta Wiggins, but at least they deigned to cover the race.

Marc Ambinger has a good article in the New Republic on the dynamics of the race, and why it's tough to beat someone like Wynn.

His annual fundraiser, a crab feast, attracts surf (the president of the state senate) and turf (hundreds of constituents). They hobnob with special guests: This year, Republican Senate candidate Michael Steele showed up and happily passed out bumper stickers, as did Representative Ben Cardin, a Democrat seeking Wynn's endorsement for the Senate race. (He didn't get it.) Before each election, Wynn mails voters a ticket listing preferred Democratic candidates. Candidates who anger him are left off the list. He remains popular enough that a dis-endorsement can hurt. "I've elected Democratic governors and Democratic dog catchers," he says.

Edwards has a shot, which is a huge deal.  And if she doesn't win, she'll be able to force Wynn to left for the next few years.  Go 50 state strategy, and go Donna.

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The Maryland Senate primary is really interesting.  We've got two good candidates, Ben Cardin and Kweisi Mfume, facing off.  In a lot of ways it's a difference of tone rather than ideology.  Cardin's more low-key and traditional, Mfume is more aggressive and out front.  Survey USA has Mfume leading, whereas

It's not that he's a bad guy, it's that he's backed by Steny Hoyer's machine, and he does boneheaded things like promise a cure for cancer if he is elected to the Senate.  Cardin's a good progressive in his voting record, but he's just not the right leader for Democrats in the Senate right now.  Watch his ad.  It's safe.  It doesn't mention that he's a Democrat, and this is a blue state.

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Via Rachel Weiner, the Michael Steele campaign has just released its first TV ad, which you can see here. I have to admit that I'm rather impressed: Steele comes off as smart and affable -- the kind of guy who's just giving you the straight dope. He actually reminds me, for some reason, of Jared from the Subway ads; and indeed, there is a definite Madison Avenue feel to the piece, which in political ads is refreshing. Most of them, especially for Democrats, look like those "inspiring" movies of personal triumph (e.g., Annapolis) that everyone is supposed to regard as important but no one actually sees.

But to return to Steele: As Weiner notes, Steele's party affiliation -- that scarlet letter -- is conspicuously absent. That, however, tends to be par for the course, as the Darcy Burner ad above attests. More exasperating is Steele's claim that "instead of the spin, I'll talk straight about what's wrong in both parties." (Emphasis added.) As I've said before, it may be shrewd for Steele to pivot away from the Republicans in order to win in Maryland, but for anyone who knows his actual beliefs, it's a con game. I also doubt that Steele, with all the support he receives from the national GOP, isn't doing this without their tacit approval. Which brings up another thing I've said with regards to Steele: in the current environment, bipartisanship benefits Republicans, as it deflects responsibility for the countless failures of leadership in Washington from the ruling party. The MyDD strategy memo is instructive in this regard.

Having said all that, I fear that this ad will be effective in persuading the average voter to look on Steele the man in a positive light, even if he doesn't know what he stands for. Coming across as likable will be crucial for Steele to win in November, especially if he goes up against Kweisi Mfume. Let's hope he doesn't succeed.

-- Isaac Smith

Cross-posted at The Old Line.

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