For the first time in 20 years Maryland has a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, the most exclusive and powerful elected body on the planet.
Paul Sarbanes announced his retirement 16 months ago, more than two dozen hopefuls are running to succeed him and the primary election is less than two months away. But have you read or seen anything about this election? Do you know what the issues are? Do you even know who the candidates are?
Well, it’s not your fault. The mainstream media has studiously avoided Maryland’s 2006 U.S. Senate race. Heck, William Donald Schaefer gets more coverage and so does the Public Service Commission.
To date, the Senate media coverage has principally consisted of: 1. who’s raised the most money; 2. who’s ahead in the polls; 3. trivialities such as ‘‘The Wig Man” (a fringe candidate who campaigns in a powdered wig); and 4. the daily slams on Republican candidate Mike Steele, warming up for his media execution in November.
Sure, the Duncan vs. O’Malley gubernatorial race was the main event for the Sept. 12 primary. But that’s no excuse to blackout the U.S. Senate primary. And, with Doug Duncan gone, why hasn’t the media elevated the U.S. Senate race to its proper place as the state’s most important primary election? Instead, the media keeps focusing us on November’s Ehrlich vs. O’Malley general election while September’s U.S. Senate primary goes largely unreported.
‘‘Is the media coverage satisfactory?” I asked several Senate candidates.
‘‘Absolutely not,” responded Allan Lichtman, the college political science professor who mortgaged his house to run. ‘‘The coverage is far below the minimum water level for a U.S. Senate race. It’s an enormous disservice to the voters of Maryland and to the candidates.”
Lichtman assumed televised debates and media coverage would carry his anti-Iraq war message to the voters. ‘‘That’s what I was counting on when I decided to run. That’s what my campaign was based on. The war is going to drive Joe Lieberman right out of the U.S. Senate and here it’s being totally ignored!”
Dennis Rasmussen, a former Baltimore County executive and state senator, disagrees with Lichtman on the war but agrees with him on the media coverage. ‘‘The print media has been non-existent. The (Sun) has given ‘The Wig Man’ more coverage than me.” So Rasmussen is putting $250,000 of his own money into cable TV and local newspaper ads promoting himself as ‘‘the only non-cut-and-run candidate on Iraq.”
Josh Rales, a wealthy Montgomery businessman, isn’t waiting for the mainstream media either. He’s spending some of his millions on extensive TV advertising right up until Election Day. ‘‘I look forward to bringing my ideas directly to the voters over the next nine weeks ...” says Rales. ‘‘There will be no issue of name recognition on Election Day.” And predictably, Rales’ expensive TV buys drew more media coverage and comment than he’s received during the entire campaign.
Is the Maryland media playing politics? You bet. Its over-coverage of the gubernatorial race is aimed at tearing down Gov. Robert Ehrlich and promoting Mayor Martin O’Malley, the establishment’s candidate, who needs statewide exposure.
In the U.S. Senate race, the establishment’s choice is Ben Cardin who, unlike O’Malley, is conducting a ‘‘rose garden” strategy. Cardin has plenty of money to saturate the airwaves for the September primary while his closest rival, Kweisi Mfume, does not.
Also, all the other candidates in the race pull votes from Cardin, not Mfume. So the less voters know about this race, the better for Cardin. Don’t wake up black voters by giving Mfume free exposure and don’t let voters learn about the other white candidates who might drain off Cardin’s support. That’s why there’s a media blackout.
Too bad, because informed public debate, not the political buddy system, is how we’re supposed to elect our leaders and give them a mandate. But thanks to the media you’ll never hear what Lichtman, Rasmussen, Mfume, A. Robert Kaufman and all the other unanointed, underfunded candidates have to say, sensible or not.
Take Kevin Zeese (rhymes with peace), the Green Party candidate who traces his ancestry back to English cavalrymesn who led the Charge of the Light Brigade. Zeese’s Senate quest may be an equally unrewarding endeavor but he’s full of provocative ideas.
Zeese wants to abolish taxes on the first $100,000 of income in exchange for a 1 percent tax on stocks and bonds, favors a single-payer national health care plan and questions America’s ‘‘one-sided, blind support for Israel.” Zeese says, ‘‘A central taboo that must be broken is the U.S. taxpayer funding of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. People seem ready for a debate on this topic.”
Whether Kevin Zeese is crazy or courageous is up to the voters. But an essential mission of the free press is presenting us with all the candidates and all their ideas so we can decide for ourselves. When uninformed voters cast uninformed votes, democracy fails.
Blair Lee is CEO of the Lee Development Group in Silver Spring and a regular commentator for WBAL radio. His column appears Fridays in The Gazette. His e-mail address is
