GOP Heavyweights Help With Steele's Fundraising

While former president Bill Clinton was raising campaign cash for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Benjamin L. Cardin in the past week, the GOP nominee, Michael S. Steele , was getting help from some of the bigger names in Republican politics.

Steele's sister, Monica Turner , the former wife of boxer Mike Tyson , hosted a birthday bash for her brother Friday featuring former congressman J.C. Watts . The onetime Oklahoma representative was the only black Republican in Congress when he announced his retirement in 2002.

There was no word on how much money was raised at Turner's spacious Bethesda home, but the party was packed, according to one participant.

Steele also got a boost yesterday from Fox News commentator Sean Hannity , who presided over a $1,000-a-person luncheon on the roof deck of the Mills Building on Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

"Sean understands the need to change business-as-usual in Washington, and I'm honored to have his support," Steele said in an e-mail fundraising solicitation.

For a candidate who has railed against the "Washington crowd" in his campaign commercials, it was a decidedly Washington fundraiser at the offices of D.C. lobbyists Wayne Valis and Matt Keelen -- just steps from the White House. Keelen is the head of Team Steele, a group charged with raising money from D.C. lobbyists.

Hannity has hosted Steele several times on his TV show and has been talking up his candidacy on air. Invitations to the event quote Hannity telling Steele, "You are a force politically in the state of Maryland. You have done a great job. You are a great leader."

Yesterday, Hannity was running late after interviewing Vice President Cheney , and as he dashed into the elevator, he said of Steele, "He's a good guy."

Next up for Steele is White House press secretary Tony Snow , who is listed as the star of a fundraiser next week at a private home in Potomac that includes a $1,000 photo opportunity.

Steele Assails Cardin on Stem Cells

With the release of Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin's new campaign commercial showing Michael J. Fox clearly stricken by Parkinson's disease, Republican Michael S. Steele accused his Democratic opponent yesterday of being soft on his support for stem cell research.

Steele's campaign highlighted Cardin's vote against a bill that would have required the National Institutes of Health to conduct such research without destroying human embryos.

"There is only one candidate in this race who voted against stem cell research and it's Congressman Ben Cardin," Steele said in a news release. "Cardin had a chance to support stem cell research that would not destroy human embryos, and he voted against it -- not because of his beliefs on the issue, but as a transparent political stunt."

Cardin supported legislation that would have lifted federal funding restrictions on the embryonic research, which supporters say holds the most promise for treatments. President Bush vetoed that bill, a decision Steele agrees with.

But Cardin voted against the measure in question because, spokesman Oren Shur said, it was a "cruel attempt by House Republicans to cover up their opposition to real embryonic stem cell research." Cardin, he said, believes federal money should go to the "promising research supported by the scientific community."

In the House, Cardin's position was shared by members of the Maryland delegation, including Republican Wayne T. Gilchrest .

Steele has tried to strike a balance on the issue, saying he opposes any research that results in the destruction of a human embryo. He supports using adult stem cells, in addition to embryonic research that seeks to extract cells without destroying an embryo. Leading researchers in the field say that remains impractical.