By Leonard Sparks
AFRO Staff Writer

With the towering organ pipes of historical Orchard Street Church in the background, the three candidates for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retiring Paul S. Sarbanes played their tune for voters during a two-hour debate sponsored by the Greater Baltimore Urban League on Oct. 4.

Before an estimated crowd of 250 people -- mostly campaign staffers and candidate supporters -- U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele and Kevin B. Zeese fielded questions from two moderators -- Charles Robinson, a reporter for Maryland Public Television, and journalist Doni Glover. Three candidates try to point out the reasons they're the right choice.

Tuesday nights event sponsored by the Greater Baltimore Urban League, was a civilized cage fight leaving all contestants a little winded and worn ready for round two. Photo by John Moore Overall, the theme was "change," with Cardin, Steele and Zeese presenting themselves as antidotes for a Congress they alternately portrayed as rife with misguided policies, out-of-touch legislators from both major parties, and corrupting special interest money.

A more animated Cardin, who defeated Kweisi Mfume in September's Democratic primary, spent most of the night on the offensive against Steele, his strongest challenger.

Cardin repeatedly sought to link Steele, a Republican, with the domestic and foreign policies of President Bush, and the policies of Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

At the same time, Cardin emphasized his legislative record from almost 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and painted himself as a consensus builder who can work with Republicans.

"I'm for universal health care," Cardin said in his opening statement. "So I would like Michael Steele to answer tonight why we've increased the number of uninsured for the last six years by 6 million."

"I disagree with Michael Steele on increasing the minimum wage," Cardin added. "I hope Michael Steele will explain tonight why he supported Bob Ehrlich's veto of the minimum wage bill."

Steele, following Cardin to the podium, used the beginning of his opening statement to castigate Cardin for failing to mention Zeese -- the nominee for the Green, Libertarian and Populist parties -- during the congressman's opening remarks.

"There are three individuals on this stage tonight who are running for this seat," Steele said. "What you just witnessed is the problem with Washington. They run their mouths, but they do not listen.

"They do not take the time to look around to see who else is in the room. And after 40 years of public service ... he still has not learned to look around the room and shut up and listen."
Steele stuck to the theme that he is a Washington outsider independent of both major parties and a candidate victimized by "race-baiting" and "fear-mongering."

"Our problems, ladies and gentleman, aren't red or blue, black or white, liberal or conservative. They are real problems," he said.

Steele, however, did little to allay criticisms that his campaign lacks ideas. While he continually laced his responses with words like "empowerment" and "opportunity," he failed to translate those words into specific ideas on specific issues.

"We can talk about the big issues of the day," Steele said. "But the reality of life is that at some point, we have to pause and understand what those issues are and why we need to respond."

"I want you to understand not just the policy position. I want you to understand the man," Steele said. "I want you to understand what kind of senator I will be. Not just someone who's going to go in a room and can tick off legislation and sign on to a bill and vote."

As lieutenant governor, Steele touted his effort to reform the state's minority business enterprise program, and he referred to the listening tour he took of the state's schools and the resulting report.

At one point, Robinson prodded Steele for a more specific answer to a question about the status of the U.S. occupation in Iraq, and whether U.S. troops should be withdrawn.

Steele said that while "we do have challenges there," Iraq represents a "unique opportunity" for the United States. "This is not the time to step back," he said. "This is not the time to lay out a timetable."

Cardin, saying the U.S. is "in the middle of a civil war," called for a gradual withdrawal as more Iraqi security forces "stand up," and the need for international help in training Iraqi police officers and rebuilding the country.
Zeese, who is director of the anti-war group DemocratRising.US, said he supports an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

"We're creating more enemies faster than we're catching and killing them," he said. "If we don't get out now in a responsible way, we're going to create another Vietnam."

Asked about increasing minority business ownership, each candidate acknowledged the need to so, but differed on how.

Steele said the federal government should replicate the design of Maryland's minority business enterprise program, while Cardin said that rescinding the Bush tax cuts would liberate more money for programs to help minority businesses.

Cardin also said the number of primary contracting opportunities for minority businesses needs to increase. "I want to see equity within minority businesses, as well as jobs," he said.

The candidates also fielded questions about the No Child Left Behind education law, North Korea, U.S. aid to Israel and the environment.

Before the debate, Ruby Shaw, a registered Democrat who supported Kweisi Mfume in his Democratic primary loss to Cardin, said she was undecided on a Senate candidate, although she liked the idea of having another Black senator alongside Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

"I like to stay within the party lines, but I'd like to think that in 2006, we should have more African Americans represented in the Senate and in the Congress," she said. "I don't like Bush's agenda, but by the same token, I look at the African-American presence and it's just not there."

After the debate, Shaw, who owns an African artifacts store located downtown, said she "didn't hear anything that I actually hadn't heard before."

She said, however, that Zeese "gave me pause for thought." Zeese's comments about withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, combating global warming and ending U.S. support for Israel particularly resonated with her.
"I liked what he talked about. I liked the values that he talked about. I liked the slate that he's running on," she said. "So I haven't made my mind up yet."

John Ford, a 39-year-old state employee, said although he came expecting to choose between Cardin and Steele, he also was impressed by Zeese's performance.

"The only real person that seemed genuine was Zeese," he said. "I was kind of split between Cardin and Steele, but Zeese was the better guy out of all three of them."

Ford said he agreed with Zeese on issues like reinstituting paper ballots in Maryland. "If they just had the paper balloting, it would go a lot easier," he said. "And it won't crash. People want to make sure their vote counts."

"I want somebody who's going to care about people -- genuine Americans," he said. "Not somebody who's already rich and once they get where they want to go, they forget about the people that put them there."