The Man Of Steele Returns

It appears that nothing, not even RINOesque perfidy, is slowing down Michael Steele's progress toward the United States Senate:

A poll released this week by Maryland-based Gonzales Research shows Mr. Steele trailing Democratic Representative Ben Cardin by five points, 44% to 39%, and ahead of former Congressman Kweisi Mfume by four points, 42% to 38%.

The reason why is the same dynamic that has characterized this contest from the start:

The polling is split on which Democrat has the edge in the party's internal nomination battle - Gonzales Research has Mr. Cardin ahead, SurveyUSA has Mr. Mfume in front. And the contest has its own racial dimension, with Mr. Mfume, a former NAACP president, complaining about a white-controlled Democratic machine trying to hand the nomination to Mr. Cardin.

This lands Maryland Donks in a singular dilemma. If Mfume is their nominee, they begin the general campaign already behind with a fringe candidate that has little chance of winning. If they give the nod to Cardin, they surrender as much as a third of the black vote to Lieutenant-Governor Steele, the same factor that proved decisive in his and Bob Ehrlich's 2002 gubernatorial triumph over the lily-white Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

I think it is time to reassess just which side of this race deserves underdog status, in much the same way that extreme Dem presumption of an inevitable return to domination of Capitol Hill needs a serious re-think. With Tom Kean now leading Bob Menendez in New Jersey, and Mark Kennedy, Jim Talent, and even Rick Santorum gaining ground in Minnesota, Missouri, and Pennsylvania respectively, my steady prediction of no change in the Senate and a two-seat GOP loss in the House is looking better and better all the time.

Whichever Pachyderm succeeds Bill Frist as Majority Leader should put Michael Steele on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The expression on Ted Kennedy's face alone would be worth the price of admission.