“Where?s Ben?” the handwritten signs of Steele supporters wanted to know.
The three-way U.S. Senate debate sponsored by the Charles County NAACP, which had been announced in Tuesday?s Examiner on Wednesday, turned into a cordial two-man conversation between Republican Michael Steele and Green Party nominee Kevin Zeese, when Democrat Ben Cardin backed out Thursday morning, eight hours before the debate was supposed to occur.
“We thought he was going to be here,” said William Braxton, president of the Charles County NAACP. “The community is really disappointed.”
Braxton said, “I think it?s going to impact him” in the county, where 38 percent of the residents are black and Cardin lost the Democratic primary to Kweisi Mfume.
Cardin spokesman Oren Shur said Cardin had never formally committed to the debate, and instead went to three Prince George?s County events, a county he also lost to Mfume. Shur challenged Steele to attend Saturday?s convention for all the state?s NAACP chapters in Baltimore, but Steele said he already had a full schedule of campaigning, though he left open the possibility he would attend.
The Cardin no-show was the latest in a series of incidents where both camps accuse the other of ducking forums and debates. Steele has been insisting that Zeese be allowed to participate. Democrats believe that Zeese, on the ballot as the nominee of the Green, Libertarian and Populist parties, will take more votes from the liberal Cardin, because of Zeese?s strong anti-war, anti-corporation and pro-environment views.
Steele, Zeese find some common ground
Despite their stark policy differences on Iraq, taxes and health care, Republican Michael Steele and the Green Party?s Kevin Zeese were fairly chummy in the Charles County NAACP debate. They called each other by their first names and nodded in agreement at the analysis of problems on issues like No Child Left Behind, while offering different solutions.
Energy: Both men agreed that the nation needed to move toward energy independence, move away from fossil fuels such oil and coal, and support alternate fuels. “Environmentalists were not at the table” in formulating the nation?s energy plan, Steele said. He supports nuclear energy, and Zeese strongly opposes it.
Iraq: Steele was asked if he would counsel his 18-year-old son to serve in Iraq. No, he wouldn?t. “That?s a decision he will make on his own,” Steele said, drawing applause and murmurs of support from the audience. “I respect him as an individual.” He called Iraq “a mess,” but does not favor immediate withdrawal, as does Zeese.
Foreign aid: “It?s time to take care of home,” Steele said, as Hurricane Katrina showed. “The poor of our country are being left to die on bridges.” Zeese says foreign aid is a small portion of the budget, but he would cut overseas defense spending and military deployments, freeing up $100 billion.
Immigration: “We need to secure the borders and enforce the law,” Steele said, but “we?re not going to deport the mother of a U.S. citizen.” Zeese blamed the immigration problem on free trade agreements that “pushed Mexican farmers off their farms.” The problem is a result of “corporate control of government,” he said. “They want cheap labor here and in Mexico.”
Taxes: Steele said he could agree with Zeese?s proposal to make the first $100,000 of income tax free, but he couldn?t agree with Zeese?s way to pay for the tax restructuring: A one-tenth of 1 percent tax on stocks, bonds and other securities. – Len Lazarick
