IF he had been against Mfume, and IF it had been 2002 or 2004, then it would have been a close race, with Steele getting at least 47 or 48. In 2006 - no. He ran a great campaign and lost handily to a terrible candidate in Ben Cardin.
er cardin wasn't as terrible as, say, Conrad Burns, Katherine Harris, George Allen, or that guy who ran against Hillary this time around (I forget his name). Steele ran probably the best campaign he could have under the circumstances, and Cardin didn't commit any major gaffes, so it's really impossible for me to see how steele could have won.
Cardin was a piss poor canidate who just go lucky, For example he couldn't really givew answers to questions and his respose was that Steele love George W. Bush, Which he said constently.
Well, it was true, and it's certainly not a good thing to agree with Bush's policies (not to Maryland voters).
But still it was very hard to get anything out of Cradin in regards to his opinions on the issues, In addition to running a very medicore campagin.
