Editor’s note 5/14/2022: I have brought this home from the dead Examiner.com pages.
A time-tested political approach for opponents of an entrenched incumbent politician is to question his record, and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Bongino is doing just that.
In a statement to supporters, Bongino claimed incumbent Ben Cardin “has maintained political office for an astounding 45 years by taking Marylanders on an endless series of blind dates.” This was part of a bid to have a series of monthly debates between the two during the remaining six months before the November 6 elections. However, incumbent politicians up for re-election will rarely give opponents the time of day, let alone take the chance on committing a verbal faux pas on a statewide stage.
And Bongino is aware of this. “Given Ben Cardin’s history of being asleep at the wheel I would not be surprised if he ignores my debate request,” said the Republican contender,”but I am relentlessly pursuing real change to our government and will not be ignored.”
While the pre-prinary Washington Post endorsement of Cardin called him a “substantive, responsive, and doggedly effective public official,” the average Marylander would be hard-pressed to name one significant legislative accomplishment Ben has achieved over his six years in the Senate. Part of that comes from being in the shadow of Maryland’s other U.S. Senator, the popular Barbara Mikulski, but Cardin has also developed a reputation for being such a reliable liberal vote that it’s rarely questioned which side of an issue he’ll be on. As an example, there was no need for giving Ben a “Louisiana Purchase” or “Cornhusker Kickback” on Obamacare, as was the case with wavering Democratic Senators Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson, respectively. Whether the vote was in the best interests of Marylanders or not, Democratic leadership knew they could put Cardin’s vote in their column.
And while Cardin managed to poll just under 75 percent in a primary victory over a host of underfunded opponents in last month’s primary, his original 2006 election to the Senate was by just 10 points over former Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele. Moreover, Ben barely won the 2006 primary over Kweisi Mfume, sliding through with a three-point plurality over the onetime NAACP head. Although they may vote for him out of party loyalty, minority voters haven’t necessarily warmed up to Cardin.
In an attempt to exploit this perceived weakness, Bongino believes education may be a key wedge issue for minority and working-class voters. Instead, he contends that Ben Cardin has given “staunch support of special interests over parents’ rights in the struggle for educational opportunity.” Supporting that argument is the fact that, before the ink on Ben’s 2012 filing papers had a chance to dry, he already had the endorsement of a leading teachers’ union in his pocket.
But unless he upsets conventional political wisdom and agrees to the series of debates proposed by Bongino, the incumbent Senator seems content to use his current vast financial advantage to pepper the airwaves with 30-second feelgood spots later this fall rather than defend a voting record which rarely strays from the most liberal of Democratic lines. To his campaign it appears an uninformed voter can be a Cardin voter.