Maryland Senate Race

I'm voting for Kseisi Mfume in the Democratic primary on September 12th to be Maryland's next senator.

Mfume and Rep. Ben Cardin have the most experience in national politics. Mfume favors an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq. I agree. We messed up their country, it's impossible for us to be a stabilizing force there because we messed up their country. Our presence is fueling the violence in Iraq. If we leave, the country will still see violence, because of our invasion, but our presence can't stop it. It doesn't make sense to leave our troops in Iraq. In the mean time, Americans and Iraqis die. I demand a troop withdrawal now.

Even if you favor a phased troop withdrawal, Mfume is the better candidate on this issue. A fundamental principal of democracy is compromise. The Democrats need to take a firm stand to start with or they'll be shoved aside again as we've seen in the last 5 years, because they want to have their cake and eat it to, but they've gotten nothing.

Despite this weak stance, Ben Cardin also voted for the Patriot Act. Fine, it was a turbulent time and Cardin was like a feather caught in the political winds. He made a mistake. Except that he voted to EXTEND the Patriot Act also! Cardin also accepts money from special interest groups, Mfume does not, which may help some decide, but the two other issues are more important to me.

I like Allan Lichtman's actions in protesting the Mfume-Cardin debate on Maryland Public Television. Lichtman was arrested because they wouldn't let him and some other candidates’ debate. He said that the media shouldn't be allowed to arbitrarily decide the election. I agree. But he doesn't have the political experience of Mfume and we don't get to vote for our two favorite candidates.

Josh Rales says on his website, "Josh will advocate moving away from Cold War military strategy and foreign policy, and developing a plan that will address the new threats and enemies we face in the 21st century."

I give the Bush administration a little more credit than that. I think they can at least tell the difference between a cold war and the hot war that we're actually in. This just seems like insulting meaningless buzzwords.

From what I've read, I agree with David Dickinson's and James Hutchinson's stances on the issues, but I believe that Mfume is a better and more experienced candidate. Dennis Rasmussen is a self-described moderate. You know what we call a moderate Democrat in Maryland, a Republican.