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A Political Natural, Railing Against Politics
Michael S. Steele is running on the theme that "Washington has no clue of what's going on in your life."
(By Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)
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Since 1999, after he'd left his last job, as a lawyer, Steele had been trying to start a consulting business. Bray Barnes, who became Steele's partner in the firm, said they sought to represent countries or companies in their dealings with the federal government, relying on their Republican contacts in Washington.
"I would say we had pretty limited success," said Barnes, a lawyer in Toms River, N.J. He couldn't remember ever signing up a client. There was at least one: During the campaign for governor, after Barnes was no longer working with the business, the Maryland Republican Party was paying the firm, and by extension Steele, a consulting fee of $5,000 a month.
With little money coming in from the business, Steele has said, he drained retirement accounts. He told an audience in a recent speech that his family went without health insurance for three years.
"Don't break anything, because Daddy can't afford to fix it," he recalled telling his sons then.
On Nov. 5, 2002, Steele's election win erased all that. His current job pays $120,000 a year. A rocketing political career had finally made a struggling business one irrelevant. He savored the victory.
"Is this sweet or what?" Steele told supporters election night, according to news accounts.
Fighting the Numbers
Steele's opponent in the Senate race, Democratic Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, is a wonkish, pedestrian orator. But so far, Cardin has also proved resolutely unwilling to shoot himself in the foot.
In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1 -- and where issues such as the Iraq war and the government's handling of Hurricane Katrina might keep black Democrats from crossing party lines -- that might be all Cardin needs to win.
"A good Democratic candidate running a good campaign will beat a good Republican running a good campaign in a statewide race every time, just because of the numbers," said Donald Norris, a public policy professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
To counter this disadvantage, Steele has run a campaign that portrays him as above party, beyond party. In avoiding Republican-specific policy recommendations, however, Steele sometimes ends up sounding as if he's avoiding specifics altogether.
He offers policy proposals, including increased restrictions on lobbyists, tax exemptions for new businesses and a 120-day suspension of the federal gasoline tax.
But often, when pressed on domestic- or foreign-policy questions, Steele responds not with firm positions but with a call for larger, more inclusive discussions.
