With five weeks to the primary, the Democratic race to replace U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes ratcheted up a notch Tuesday, as Rep. Ben Cardin, the leading fundraiser, began his first TV ads, and the Republican Party attacked Cardin?s “hypocrisy” for taking contributions from Wal-Mart.
Like many of the statewide candidates, Cardin?s ads are only running in the less expensive Baltimore market, and his campaign manager, Ken Morley, was asking supporters to “help Ben air this ad in the Washington suburbs.”
The spots tout Cardin?s career as “a ?skillful? legislator fighting for better schools ? a ?national leader? on affordable health care” and “a ?principled? congressman [who] stood up to the President and voted against the war in Iraq from the start.”
The Republican Party had a different take on Cardin?s 40 years in elected office. GOP Chairman John Kane said it?s “pure hypocrisy” for Cardin to appear at a Baltimore rally last week against Wal-Mart, the largest U.S. employer, for failing to provide adequate health benefits. At the same time, he took $4,000 from the company?s political action committee in earlier reelection campaigns for the House.
“This is ? unfortunately exactly what you would expect from a life-time politician,” Kane said.
Cardin press secretary Oren Shur asked “Is this seriously how Michael Steele and his allies are responding to Ben Cardin?s call for universal healthcare? Marylanders want a senator who will speak out on important issues like health care and workers rights, not simply launch petty political attacks.”
A poll done the last week in July by Baltimore Research for Dennis Rasmussen showed Cardin at 35 percent, Kweisi Mfume at 27 percent and Rasmussen at 11 percent, with almost a quarter of the 500 regular primary voters undecided.
“We?re happy because we?re in double digits, without nearly the resources of Mfume or Cardin,” said Herb Smith, a political science professor and a paid consultant to the campaign.
