I must say, Lt. Gov Michael Steele has had some clever ads. Most recently, he’s blanketing the airwaves with his “puppy” ad.

Well, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) slapped him down today with a great response ad. I am not sure on the size of the ad buy, but let’s hope this is being seen all over Maryland.

Vote Ben Cardin.

Tuesday’s primary election night in Maryland lasted into the wee hours of the night, but it is now official: Congressman Ben Cardin is the Democratic nominee and will take on Lt. Gov. Michael Steele in November’s general election.

Cardin defeated former Congressman and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume to win the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes. Check out DoubleSpeak’s recent interview with Representative Cardin.

DoubleSpeak will follow this race intensely and we will bring you up-to date news, polls and analysis as we charge towards November.

From The Washington Post:

“I know that we are united,” Cardin told the Associated Press. He said he and Mfume “ran a campaign that wasn’t about our election, it was about November’s election. We need to change the direction of the country. We had two people running who shared the same commitment.”

Mfume had appeared before his supporters shortly after 1:30 a.m. and all but conceded the race, calling Cardin his friend and saying that “he’ll be a damn good senator.”

What a difference a poll makes. Two polls, same race, very different results.

A recent Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies poll had Congressman Ben Cardin leading Kweisi Mfume by an impressive 13 points. However, a new Survey USA poll just released today has Mfume up by 4 on Cardin.

Hmmm, we’ll find out soon enough who will win this critical primary in Maryland. Check out DoubleSpeak Episode Eight featuring an interview with Mfume and stay tuned for Episode Nine which will feature Congressman Cardin.

As I sit here and post, I’ve seen two Steele ads. The Lt. Governor will be tough to beat and Democrats in Maryland are going to have to coalesce quickly and work hard to win in November.

Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R), who is running for the United States Senate, says that, if elected, he will bring “the ‘hood” to the U.S. Senate. Wow, this is REALLY playing the race card.

Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele yesterday said his U.S. Senate campaign aims to bring “the ‘hood” with him to Capitol Hill.

“The ‘hood is going to show up on the Hill,” said Mr. Steele, a black Republican. “That is what this campaign is all about, and that scares some people when I say stuff like that — on both sides of the aisle, God bless them.”

He said he delivered a similar message to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican supporting Mr. Steele’s candidacy.

“I told him, ‘Be careful what you wish for — a brother shows up, I bring people,’?” Mr. Steele said to about 70 supporters at the opening of his state campaign headquarters in Temple Hills. “You have all had one of those picnics, right?”

Michael Steele is going to lose this race, but if he keeps making comments like this, at least we will be able to enjoy his long-shot candidacy. Steele will likely face either Kweisi Mfume or Rep. Ben Cardin, depending on who wins the September primary.

In the Maryland Senate race, new polling data shows both potential Democratic candidates ahead of Lt. Governor Michael Steele (R). The Rasmussen Reports poll has Rep. Ben Cardin (D-MD) leading Steele by a “substantial” 10 points, 45% to 35%. Meanwhile, civil rights leader Kweisi Mfume also leads in potential head to head matchup by 4 points, 42% to 38%. Either way, it look like Democrats are in the driver’s seat for this important Senate race.

DoubleSpeak recently sat down with Mr. Mfume for an excellent interview and will be talking with Rep. Cardin very soon. Keep checking back for our interviews with these great candidates!

Hat tip PW.

Lise Van Susteren, the sister of Fox TV’s Greta Van Susteren, has withdrawn from her race for U.S. Senate in Maryland. Van Susteren was facing an uphill challenge against Democratic front runners Kweisi Mfume and Rep. Ben Cardin.

From her goodbye email:

Your belief in me makes it all the more difficult to announce that I am withdrawing from the race for the U.S. Senate.

I am proud of what our campaign accomplished. Together we poured energy into traveling the state and talking about issues that affect the lives of real people every day. Our message was well received. And while we raised half a million dollars, it wasn’t enough to assure that we would reach the numbers of voters that we would need to win in September.

Even though I am no longer running for the U.S. Senate, I intend to stay active. I will continue to work to fix the underlying causes of our health care crisis, to protest against the pollution that destroys our health, to advocate for an intelligent energy policy, and to push for diplomacy ahead of military intervention. I remain particularly outraged at the ongoing harm that blocking embryonic stem cell research has caused to so many suffering people.

Goodbye, sweet Lise.

The U.S. Senate race in Maryland is going to be a critical one and it looks like things are mighty close between front-runners Congressman Ben Cardin and Kweisi Mfume in the primary. This poll shows Rep. Cardin (D-MD) holding a statistically insignificant 32% to 31% lead over former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume.

This race is so important that DoubleSpeak has already sat down with Mr. Mfume to discuss his race and you’ll hear that interview coming up in the next couple weeks.

We will, of course, have Mr. Cardin and the other challengers in the race on the show too so stay tuned. Check out this photo from our interview with Kweisi…

The Washington Post reported that Graham M. Shafer has resigned as campaign manager for Governor Michael Steele’s campaign for the United Senates Senate!

This is not a good sign for Steele, who has had off-and-on momentum in this race.

Check out the Democrats running to retain Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D) Seat:

Ben Cardin

Lise Van Susteren

Kweisi Mfume

Allan Lichtman

Dennis Rasmussen