Mfume Endorses Cardin, but Adds Caveat
2006-09-28
Source: Washington Post
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rss feedSenate candidate Benjamin L. Cardin received the critical endorsement yesterday of Democratic primary opponent Kweisi Mfume, whose blessing came with a blunt warning about the lack of diversity among candidates for statewide office in Maryland.
The main attraction at Cardin's campaign rally at the University of Maryland was supposed to be Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), a rising star in the Democratic Party. But Mfume -- who lost to Cardin on Sept. 12 -- left a stark impression, telling the Baltimore congressman and fellow Democrats, "We have a problem."
On stage at an outdoor amphitheater filled with college Democrats, the former NAACP president enthusiastically put his arms around Cardin, saying: "I know what he's done in the past, and I know what he'll do in the future. He's going to make a damn good senator."
But Mfume cautioned that the party had much work to do to energize black voters. The Democratic nominees for the top four jobs, he noted, look no different than the ticket 50 years ago.
"We need women in leadership positions in the state. We've got to find a way that African Americans and other minorities are represented statewide in office," he said, standing with Obama and other officials.
Cardin, who is white, faces Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R) in the general election Nov. 7 to succeed Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D), who is retiring.
In 2002, Steele became Maryland's first African American elected to statewide office and has tried to make inroads with black voters in the overwhelmingly Democratic state. He dismissed the significance of the high-profile endorsements yesterday and picked up on Mfume's theme.
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