Roll Call - Mfume Sells His Own Story

By Josh Kurtz

Three dozen senior citizens gave silent testament Tuesday to the oratorical magic and political potential of former Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.).

Sitting literally at the edge of their seats, the residents of the Riderwood Village retirement community in Silver Spring, Md., were spellbound as the Democratic Senate contender recounted the powerful story of his journey from Baltimore street hood to public servant — how he heard his dead mother’s voice in the middle of a craps game, exhorting him to be something better.

“It was very simple and it was very complex,” he said, describing his instant transformation 35 years ago.

Once the elegiac but inspiring story was over, and the more prosaic pitch for votes wound down, the seniors, black and white, lined up to hug Mfume and shake his hand.

“Our kids need you — our kids need you so badly,” a man named Burghardt Turner told him. “Tell them — tell them, ‘I’ve been there. I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I know what you’re going through.’”

Mfume has indeed been telling them — for 15 months. Since jumping into the Senate race a mere 72 hours after five-term Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D) announced that he would not run again, Mfume has been crisscrossing Maryland, wowing audiences in every corner of the state with his biography and his passionate liberalism.



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Not to take anything away from Cardin, who is also a good guy, and were Mfume not in the race, I would support wholeheartedly, but my heart has been with Mfume from the day he announced.

Lichtman is intriguing, but has essentially no chance.

Do you like winning?

The last time I whole-heartedly backed a candidate that in actuality I felt lukewarm about, only because I wanted to win, his name was John Kerry.

as out of the last 6 presidential candidates, the best electoral successes have been southerners (Clinton, Carter, Gore) and the worst were northern/ great lakes (Kerry, Dukakis, Mondale) AND

a senator hasn't been elected president in 40 years.

Pre-Iowa, Kerry supporters were claiming he was the *most* electable with no proof and no polls to back it up.

won a presidential election? Right when Perot took 19% from Bush1, if Ross had not ran Clinton would have never won.

How this relates?

There is no way Cardin is gonna win, he doesn't stand for anything that the base believes in and on election day that gets you killed. Look what the DLC platform did to Gore and Kerry. You DLCers should stick to the stock market and stay out of politics, your hurting your party. Leave politics to those who have a brain for the game out side of the throw $/horse race strategy, which only works if your side has more money then your opponents, which the Dem's don't.

You win an election by standing up with the people, by showing a hard difference of opinion from your opponent not being a pro-war,pro-patriot act, anti- free web, anti- universal health care, anti- fair trade, corporate sellout like Cardin.

the more liberal/progressive would support Mfume, the more conservative Dem would support Cardin. I am proud to call myself a liberal. Mfume is against the patriot act, he wants our troops out of Iraq and he is willing to hold the Bush administration accountable for their actions through investigations and impeachment if necessary. Mfume's positions most closely match my own on nearly every issue, and that is why I support him in the primary.

I keep repeating that I like Cardin, he is a good man. I will have no trouble supporting and voting for him in the General should he be the candidate. I did not like his vote in support of the Patriot Act and that was probably the point my decision for not supporting him in the primary was made.

Mfume's dogged persistence in his campaign is making inroads. He kept forging ahead in spite of Cardin being crowned the heir apparent by Dem party leaders. The Primary is no slam dunk for Cardin, but at least everyone is behaving in a gentlemanly manner.

I believe Mfume, should he be the nominee, will be successful in the General Elections against Steele. There really is not comparison between those two on substance, and that will come through. I don't know if that helps your decision, but it is my 2 cents.

Consider this, as well.

Besides everything else, he's progressive.

Mfume will be a media darling. That's good for the entire party and particularly good for Maryland. He will be a go-to guy for teevee yakkers. He's had his own teevee show back in the day and he's still handsome and telegenic. He speaks extraordinarily well on a range of topics and comes off as genuine and sincere. He's not a looney babbler, either. What he says is mainstream and meaningful.

Did I also mention he's very progressive?