There's a lot of time between now and the mid-term elections this November, politically speaking that is. Call it wishful thinking on this conservative's part, but the growing support for Sen. Sarbanes' (D-Md) senate seat for candidate and Maryland's Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R) has got the attention of the Democrats outside the State motivated to campaign against him. Mostly because Michael Steele is Black, not because he is Republican. They see it as pivotal, and I agree.
In this column, Sun-Times Columnist Robert Novak gets Steele's take on what this Senate run means to him, especially now since he is getting the endorsement of a Democrat, high-school buddy and Largo High School principal, Richmond Myrick, a Black registered Democrat in a heavily democrat district. Novak writes:
Myrick is African American, as are most students at Largo High. So is Steele. If enough non-political blacks follow Myrick's course, Steele will become the first black Republican elected to the Senate in 32 years. That is the Democrats' worst nightmare. Democratic dominance in Maryland has been based on maintaining a hammerlock over the state's substantial African- American vote. Steele threatens that domination.
Steele sees national implications and put it to me this way in a conversation before the recent rally in Upper Marlboro: ''It's a breaking point. I've heard the talk: 'Hillary, Bill, Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, all are coming in to campaign against you. They can't bear to see you win this race.' If I win this race, I am sure that the whole dynamic changes.''
I hope they are right and that Steele prevails. Democrats in Maryland have kept Black voters on their side of the dam for so long, and with what to show for, that they will need more fingers to plug the dam than have Bill and Hillary Clinton, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Seems obvious to me that empowerment is on the other side of the dam.
2:36:50 PM 
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