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Poll Finds Steele May Be Magnet for Black Voters
In 2002, Michael S. Steele became the first African American elected to statewide office in Maryland.
(By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
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In an interview in his State House office yesterday, Steele clutched the DNC report like a football coach who just got his hands on the opposing team's playbook. He said a copy "landed on our doorstep" in the past week.
"This explains everything," he said. "They're afraid of what I represent. They're afraid of the fact that African American voters have options, and I'm one of them."
Steele focused on two aspects of the document: the finding that a high percentage of black voters have connected with his message and the recommendation that the Democrats attack him early.
"Voters need to know they're trying to make me into something I'm not," Steele said.
He deflected questions about a potential vulnerability exposed in the report. A message that resonated with black voters identified Steele as "George W. Bush's hand-picked candidate," the survey found. It's a message Democrats have tried to exploit. Even as Walker discussed the findings, he pointed to a photograph hanging in his office -- it shows Steele and Bush arm in arm.
The poll finds that only 8 percent of black voters in Maryland approve of the president's performance. And it signals that early support Steele has received from Bush and his advisers will rub black voters the wrong way.
"Connecting Steele to national Republicans . . . can turn Steele into a typical Republican in the eyes of voters, as opposed to an African American candidate," it says.
That has been the aim of the Democrats in the race. In a statement yesterday, an aide to Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin said he found "no surprises in this poll."
"Like the vast majority of Marylanders, African Americans know that the Bush-Steele agenda is wrong for our state and our nation," said Oren Shur, the Cardin campaign spokesman.
Mfume advisers, however, said the survey should sound alarms.
"There's significance there," said Mfume strategist Walter Ludwig. "Everybody up and down the ticket needs to make sure African Americans don't feel like they're being taken for granted."
Other Democrats in the race include A. Robert Kaufman, Allan Lichtman, Josh Rales, Dennis Rasmussen and Lise Van Susteren.
Steele says he will fight Democratic efforts to frame the campaign around national issues. His campaign Web site and literature do not identify his political party and do not mention his long and close ties to the White House.
"I am independent in thought," he said. "What I'm about is what's important to Marylanders."
