United States Senate election in Maryland, 2006

United States Senate election in Maryland, 2006

2000 ← November 7, 2006 → 2012

Nominee Ben Cardin Michael Steele Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 965,477 787,182 Percentage 54.2% 44.2%

County results

U.S. Senator before election Paul Sarbanes Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Ben Cardin Democratic

The 2006 United States Senate election in Maryland was held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes, Maryland's longest serving United States Senator, decided to retire instead of seeking a sixth term. Democratic nominee Ben Cardin won the open seat.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Benjamin L. Cardin, United States Representative from the 3rd district. (Cardin's Campaign Website)
• David Dickerson, engineer. (Dickerson's Campaign website)
• George T. English, economist. (English's Campaign Website)
• James H. Hutchison, psychiatrist. (Hutchison’s Campaign Website)
• Anthony Jaworski
• A. Robert Kaufman, social activist and a perennial candidate.
• Allan Lichtman, professor at American University and voting rights expert.
• Thomas McCaskill, a physicist. (McCaskill’s Campaign Website)
• Kweisi Mfume, former United States Representative from the 7th district as well as the former president of the NAACP. (Mfume's Campaign Website)
• Josh Rales, successful entrepreneur from Montgomery County. (Rales’ Campaign Website)
• Dennis F. Rasmussen, former Baltimore County Executive. (Rasmussen’s Campaign Website)
• Bob Robinson
• Theresa C. Scaldaferri
• Mike Schaefer, lawyer. (Schaefer’s Campaign Website)
• Charles Ulysses Smith, community activist.
• Blaine Taylor, writer.
• Joseph Werner, attorney.^[1]
• Lih Young, perennial candidate.
• Lise Van Susteren - She is a psychiatrist and sister of Greta Van Susteren; she withdrew from the contest on April 21, 2006, citing insufficient fundraising. She did not endorse any candidate. ^[2]

Campaign

Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and NAACP President, was the first to announce for the position, in March 2005. Ben Cardin, then a congressman since 1987, was the only other major candidate until September 2005, when Dennis F. Rasmussen, a former Baltimore County Executive, American University professor Allan Lichtman, and wealthy Potomac businessman Josh Rales entered the contest. Thirteen other candidates subsequently also entered the primary. As of August 2006, Cardin had raised more than $4.8 million and collected endorsements from a number of Democratic politicians, the AFL-CIO, and The Washington Post; Mfume had raised over $1.2 million and collected endorsements from the Maryland State Teachers Association, Progressive Maryland, former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, the National Organization for Women, and Maryland Congressmen Elijah Cummings and Al Wynn.

On August 31, 2006, Maryland Public Television and the League of Women Voters sponsored a debate between the two leading Democratic Primary Candidates,^[3][4][5]. Lichtman, Rales, and Rasmussen petitioned MPT and LWV for inclusion in the debate, but received no response. On the day of the debate, Lichtman, his wife, and a campaign aide were arrested for trespassing while protesting during the taping of the debate.^[6]

Polling

Source	Date	Cardin	Kaufman	Lichtman	Mfume	Rales	Rasmussen
SurveyUSA	September 11, 2006	47%	—	—	38%	7%	—
SurveyUSA	August 31, 2006	38%	—	—	42%	7%	—
Gonzales Research	August 30, 2006	43%	—	—	30%	6%	—
Public Opinion Strategies	August 1-2, 2006	31%	—	—	25%	4%	6%
Baltimore Sun	July 17, 2006	32%	1%	1%	28%	1%	1%
Washington Post	June 25, 2006	26%	2%	4%	33%	0%	4%

Results

Democratic Primary results[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Democratic	Benjamin L. Cardin	257,545	43.67%
	Democratic	Kweisi Mfume	238,957	40.52%
	Democratic	Josh Rales	30,737	5.21%
	Democratic	Dennis F. Rasmussen	10,997	1.86%
	Democratic	Mike Schaefer	7,773	1.32%
	Democratic	Allan Lichtman	6,919	1.17%
	Democratic	Theresa C. Scaldaferri	5,081	0.86%
	Democratic	James H. Hutchinson	4,949	0.84%
	Democratic	David Dickerson	3,950	0.67%
	Democratic	A. Robert Kaufman	3,908	0.66%
	Democratic	Anthony Jaworski	3,486	0.59%
	Democratic	Thomas McCaskill	3,459	0.59%
	Democratic	George T. English	2,305	0.39%
	Democratic	Bob Robinson	2,208	0.37%
	Democratic	Lih Young	2,039	0.35%
	Democratic	Blaine Taylor	1,848	0.31%
	Democratic	Joseph Werner	1,832	0.31%
	Democratic	Charles Ulysses Smith	1,702	0.29%
Totals			589,695	100%

Republican primary

Candidates

• Michael S. Steele: Current Lieutenant Governor of Maryland and former Maryland GOP Party chair.
• Ray Bly: Small businessman, appliance repairman, and Vietnam War veteran. (Campaign website)
• Earl S. Gordon:
• Thomas J. Hampton: Accountant and environmentalist. (Campaign website)
• John B. Kimble: Behavioral researcher. (Campaign website)
• Edward Raymond Madej:
• Daniel Muffoletto: Small businessman and environmentalist.
• Richard Shawver: Activist
• Corrogan R. Vaughn: Small businessman, limo driver. (Campaign website)
• Daniel Vovak, "The Wig Man": Ghostwriter and owner of Greenwich Creations. (Campaign website)

Campaign

Michael S. Steele was expected to win the Republican Primary, even to the point where Maryland Public Television personality Jeff Salkin declared at a Maryland League of Women Voters debate that Steele is "unopposed.".^[8] Among a field of nine other candidates, the only Republican receiving sufficient media coverage was Daniel Vovak.

Results

Republican primary results[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Republican	Michael S. Steele	190,790	86.96%
	Republican	John Kimble	6,280	2.86%
	Republican	Earl S. Gordon	4,110	1.87%
	Republican	Daniel "Wig Man" Vovak	4,063	1.85%
	Republican	Thomas J. Hampton	3,946	1.80%
	Republican	Corrogan R. Vaughn	2,565	1.17%
	Republican	Daniel Muffoletto	2,335	1.06%
	Republican	Richard Shawver	2,298	1.05%
	Republican	Ray Bly	2,114	0.96%
	Republican	Edward Raymond Madej	902	0.41%
Totals			219,403	100%

General election

Candidates

• Michael S. Steele (R)- Lieutenant Governor
• Ben Cardin (D)- U.S. Congressman
• Kevin Zeese (G)- (Campaign website). Zeese won the nominations of the Maryland Green Party, the Libertarian Party of Maryland, and the Populist Party of Maryland, the first time all three parties had nominated the same candidate. However, a Maryland law passed in April 2006 prohibited such fusion candidacies, so Zeese, who was a registered Green Party member, was listed on the ballot as only the Green Party candidate.^[10][11]

Campaign

This was Maryland's first open Senate seat since 1986, when junior Senator Barbara Mikulski was first elected.

Michael Steele won the Republican nomination after facing little competition in the contest for the Republican ticket. With mostly unknown secondary candidates, Steele received 87% of the Republican Primary vote.

Third District Congressional Representative Ben Cardin won the Democratic Party nomination after facing tough competition in the contest for the Democratic ticket from former congressman and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, businessman Josh Rales, former Baltimore County Executive Dennis F. Rasmussen, and several lesser known candidates. Cardin received 44% of the Democratic Primary vote to 40% for Mfume, his next closest competitor. All other candidates received percentages only in the single digits.

Kevin Zeese, the nominee for the Green, Populist and Libertarian Parties, was also on the ballot.

Though Steele lost the general election by 10%, a much wider margin than predicted, his was the best showing for a Republican in a Senate race in Maryland since Charles Mathias, Jr. was reelected in 1980 with 66% of the vote.

Controversies

Main article: Controversies of the United States Senate election in Maryland, 2006

Both Steele and Cardin made controversial statements and advertising throughout the campaign.

Debates

The first debate of the race was held Tuesday, October 3, 2006. All three candidates were present and participated. The evening was hosted by the Baltimore Urban League, and moderated by Charles Robinson from Maryland Public Television and Doni Glover from BMORENEWS.^[12]

The first televised debate of the campaign was broadcast on News Channel 8 on the program "News Talk". All three candidates participated in the debate, and were moderated by Bruce DePuyt, the host of the program. There was no audience. This debate was widely reported because of the constant bickering between the three candidates, who often interrupted and talked over one another. ^[13]

Another debate took place between Steele and Cardin on Sunday, October 29, 2006 as a part of the Meet The Press Senatorial debate series. Moderated by Tim Russert, the debate focused primarily on the Iraq War and stem-cell research, amongst other issues. ^[14]

The three candidates all participated in the final debate of the campaign on Friday, November 3, 2006. The event was sponsored by the Collective Banking Group and held at the First Baptist Church of Glenarden.^[15]

Tactics

Cardin primarily attacked Steele over his close relations with President Bush, including pictures of Bush and Steele in Cardin's TV ads.^[16] Steele focused on low taxes, less government spending, free markets and national security. ^[17]

Polling

Source	Date	Cardin (D)	Steele (R)	Zeese (G)
SurveyUSA	November 6, 2006	49%	46%	3%
Mason-Dixon/MSNBC	November 5, 2006	47%	44%	1%
SurveyUSA	November 3, 2006	47%	47%
Baltimore Sun/Potomac Inc.	November 2, 2006	49%	43%	2%
Reuters/Zogby	November 2, 2006	49%	44%
Washington Post	October 29, 2006	54%	43%	1%
Rasmussen	October 26, 2006	49%	42%
Garin Hart Yang (D)	October 23-24, 2006	52%	40%
VC Research (R)	October 22-23, 2006	41%	39%
SurveyUSA	October 18, 2006	46%	46%	3%
Rasmussen	October 16, 2006	53%	44%
USA Today/Gallup	October 6, 2006	54%	39%
Reuters/Zogby	October 5, 2006	45%	37%
Public Opinion Strategies (R)	October 2-4, 2006	47%	43%
Mason-Dixon/MSNBC	October 2, 2006	47%	41%	1%
Zogby/Wall Street Journal	September 28, 2006	52%	39%
VC Research (R)	September 27-28, 2006	44%	39%
Baltimore Sun/Potomac Inc.	September 25, 2006	51%	40%
SurveyUSA	September 20, 2006	47%	48%	4%
Rasmussen	September 19, 2006	50%	43%
Zogby/Wall Street Journal	September 10, 2006	49%	40%
Gonzales Research	August 30, 2006	44%	39%
Zogby/Wall Street Journal	August 28, 2006	50%	41%
Rasmussen	August 18, 2006	47%	42%
Public Opinion Strategies (R)	August 1-2, 2006	43%	35%
Zogby/Wall Street Journal	July 24, 2006	50%	42%
Rasmussen	July 17, 2006	47%	41%
Baltimore Sun/Potomac Inc.	July 6-10, 2006	47%	36%
Washington Post	June 25, 2006	49%	39%
Zogby/Wall Street Journal	June 21, 2006	51%	40%
Rasmussen	April 25, 2006	45%	35%
Gonzales Research	April 18, 2006	49%	35%
Zogby/Wall Street Journal	March 31, 2006	49%	39%
Rasmussen	February 22, 2006	49%	35%
Zogby	January 20, 2006	49%	43%
Rasmussen	January 13, 2006	40%	45%
Rasmussen	November 21, 2005	49%	41%
Baltimore Sun	October 25, 2005	47%	38%
Baltimore Sun	April, 2005	41%	37%

Results

Maryland United States Senate election results, 2006[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Ben Cardin	965,477	54.21	-9.0
	Republican	Michael S. Steele	787,182	44.19	+7.5
	Green	Kevin Zeese	27,564	1.55	n/a
	Write-ins		916	0.05	0
Majority			178,295	100.00
Turnout			1,781,139
	Democratic hold		Swing

References

1. ^ "Joseph Werner". Archived from the original on 2008-02-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20080203234904/www.attorneywerner.com/joewerner/index.php. Retrieved 13 January 2010. 
2. ^ Mosk, Matthew (April 22, 2006). "Van Susteren Quits, Citing Fundraising Lag". The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/21/AR2006042101868.html. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 
3. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Mosk, Matthew (September 1, 2006). "Mfume, Cardin Stress Contrasts In TV Debate". The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/31/AR2006083101684.html. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 
5. ^ "Free Campaign websites, Free Candidate Search engine, 24/7 elections and politics". Vovak.politicalgateway.com. http://www.vovak.politicalgateway.com/cand.php?id=305&prid=682&page=press. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 
6. ^ [2]^{[dead link]}
7. ^ http://www.elections.state.md.us/elections/2006/results/primary/office_US_Senator.html
8. ^ "Debate host calls Steele ‘unopposed’; not the case - Examiner.com". Examiner.com<!. 2006-09-01. http://www.examiner.com/a-256802~Debate_host_calls_Steele__unopposed___not_the_case.html. Retrieved 2010-01-13. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ http://www.elections.state.md.us/elections/2006/results/primary/office_US_Senator.html
10. ^ David Nitkin on state politics issues; Editor addresses energy rates, upcoming elections, personnel probe, Baltimore Sun, May 16, 2006.
11. ^ John Wagner, Zeese Wins the Triple Crown, Washington Post, June 13, 2006.
12. ^ "Zeese, Steele, Cardin Debate". Video.google.com. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1835435218560670454. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 
13. ^ Matthew Mosk and Ann E. Marimow (October 26, 2006). "Cardin, Steele Square Off in Televised Debate". The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com<!). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501809.html. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 
14. ^ Matthew Mosk and Ann E. Marimow (October 30, 2006). "Debate Puts Steele on Defense". The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/29/AR2006102900240.html. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 
15. ^ "Final Debate For Maryland U.S. Senate Race". Video.google.com. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8173803568179928897. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 
16. ^ http://progressivemaryland.org/files/public/images/SteeleHuggingBush051130.jpg
17. ^ Steele, Michael (2008-02-08). "Michael Steele : Now Is the Time to Act". Townhall.com. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MichaelSteele/2008/02/07/now_is_the_time_to_act. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 
18. ^ "Official 2006 Gubernatorial General Election results for U.S. Senator". Maryland State Board of Elections. 2006-12-19. http://www.elections.state.md.us/elections/2006/results/general/office_US_Senator.html. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 

Preceded by 2004 Barbara Mikulski (D)

Maryland U.S. Senate elections 2006 Ben Cardin (D)

Succeeded by 2010 TBD