Good News for Raskin

July 2006
by Mike Tabor

Raskin was endorsed by U.S. Senate candidate Kweisi Mfume, the former Congressman and head of the NAACP. "Jamie brings a creative and visionary leadership not controlled by special interest money and out-of-touch political bosses" and is "reaching out to all communities," said Mfume, who is running a modestly funded but exciting progressive campaign that might propel him to become the second African-American in the U.S. Senate (along with Barack Obama). Martin O'Malley, now the unopposed Demcoratic candidate for governor, also spoke at a Raskin fundraiser and hailed Raskin's vision. The testimonials from senior Maryland Democrats help establish Raskin's political bona fides against incumbent Ida Ruben, whose major claim in her campaign seems to be her connection to party pols.

Ruben also suffered severe embarrassment when she was taken to task in a Washington Post editorial for "acting like an ill-tempered rookie." Ruben had called the principal of Blair High School, Phil Gainous, to demand a meeting with the editorial board of the Silver Chips student newspaper after the paper endorsed Raskin as "the right choice for District 20." While an "irate" Ruben was making her demands, it came to light the student journalists had tried to reach her four times for an interview but she never returned their calls. The Post pointed out the irony of a state official criticizing students for getting passionately involved in politics at a time of widespread electoral "apathy." Ah, the arrogance of incumbency!