Striving for DC Area Voters, Steele Makes "Purple Line" an Issue
Behind in the race for the open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland, Republican Michael Steele has evidently targeted the Maryland suburbs of Washingto, DC, as where he might sway some votes from Democrat Ben Cardin to himself. In the only debate televised within the DC media market, Steele began questioning Cardin about the DC suburbs. Steele's goal was to point out to DC suburbanites that Cardin, from Baltimore, did not know the DC area as well as Steele did. Steele succeeded, but, then, a day later, lost the advantage he gained.
: MD-Sen, Ben Cardin, Michael Steele
Steele asked Cardin where the proposed Metro "purple line" ran. Cardin correctly answered "Chevy Chase," but, then, refused to continue his answer--basically refusing to be interrogated by Steele. Cardin's refusal then and in conversations with reporters after the News Channel 8 debate suggested to them that he did not know the rest of the answer. That conclusion may or may not be accurate; however, the media reported the story that way--much to Cardin's disadvantage.
However, the next day, the Steele capaign--in order to capitalize on Cardin's "gaffe"--held a rally at what they thought was a station on the "purple line." There have been, however, multiple routes proposed for the line. The station they chose, the Bethesda Medical Center stop on the Metro "red line," has not been for quite some time part of the "purple line" plan.
Steele, then, revealed that he too knew little about the "purple line" and, by extension, the Maryland suburbs of DC. However, the media coverage of his rally in the wrong location received considerably less coverage than Cardin's incomplete answer during the October 25th debate.
