MD-SEN: New WP Poll -- Cardin Over Steele by 11 Points!!!

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

Well this is a bit of a relief. Recent polls in the race were starting to worry me, but this new Washington Post poll suggests that Cardin has things well in hand:

Democrats have sought to link Steele with Bush -- who has a 6 percent approval rating among African Americans surveyed. Steele has support from 14 percent of black voters, not significantly higher than the support Ehrlich is receiving, the poll shows. Overall, Cardin leads Steele 54 to 43 percent, with independent candidate Kevin Zeese receiving 1 percent of the vote.

"Michael Steele's problem is that . . . he's a Republican at the absolute worst time in the world for a politician to be a Republican," said David Bositis, an expert on black voting patterns at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Steele's spokesman Heye disagreed: "Michael Steele's message is resonating with African American voters. . . . His message of opportunity, hope and bringing change to Washington has resonated and is continuing to resonate with African American voters."

But Kenneth Kirby, 52, a former airline worker from Annapolis who is black, said he supports Cardin because he's a loyal Democrat. He said he stopped considering Steele "after I learned he was, essentially, a Bush appointee."

Steele gets more than 90 percent of the Republican vote and leads among independents, but, like Ehrlich, he has made little headway among the half of the voters who identify themselves as Democrats. Statewide, 55 percent of voters are registered as Democrats.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/28/AR2006102801039.html

Not over yet, but I feel a lot better about this one.

[Eric J in MN]

1. Personally, I always expected the Democrat to win the Maryland

...US Senate race.

[snowbear]

2. I sure hope Nick ("NickShepDem") see's this! .... He was..

.. really bummed about the Ehrlich poll he saw a few days ago..

This latest news will make Nick much happier!

[nickshepDEM]

8. Went out and bought the paper just for this poll. O'Malley and Cardin

both leading by double digits. Great start to a beautiful Sunday. :)

[Erika]

3. Yes!!! n/t

[ps1074]

4. I hope the poll is right

Last several polls didn't look good at all.

[win_in_06]

5. This is one of the most dangerous races for us, IMO.

If Steele carves into the black vote just a bit on election day it will be very close. Having a black republican Senator would not be good for us.

[Greeby]

6. Having a Repuke senator of any colour is bad for the world

Just sayin, it's not just your country that is going to be screwed if Repukes remain in control :shrug:

[karlrschneider]

7. Steele is on Meat the Press here right now. He's a waffling prick

who won't answer a question.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

9. He is very glib

"Slick Steele" would be a good nickname for him.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

10. IMO he really "jumped the shark" with his "adopt frozen embryos"

plank.

Until then, he seemed like he might actually believe what he was saying, and that he wasn't just pandering to his wacko "base" of fundie wing-nuts.

But IMO no sane person could sincerely advocate having the State of MD arrange adoptiions for frozen cell-masses while thousands of actual children languish in fostercare til they age out into the military a la Antwone Fisher. Either Steele is pandering or he's completely nutso himself, IMO.