More than once, Ben Cardin has been called an “old-fashioned” politician for putting his family first and exemplifying handshake integrity. Cardin is betting on those throw-back values to win him election to the U.S. Senate in an age of financial and sexual scandals.
Serious in his dark blue suit, Cardin walks around Bethesda introducing himself to strangers, even when the $6 million he raised for campaigning could have let him avoid that work. But Cardin likes the “retail politics” way of approaching voters.
Although he spent more than 20 years in the General Assembly and another 20 in Congress, Cardin, 63, hardly calls attention to himself. He never lost an election, and yet, he knows this race is different from any other.
Competition has been tough since the primary, when he beat former congressman Kweisi Mfume, and introduced himself statewide after representing Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District for almost 20 years. But Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele is a different rival.
“My campaign has been trying to draw a contrast as to where Michael Steele stands on the issues and where I do,” Cardin said.
“So for me to say that he supports Bush’s Social Security proposal is a fact. He doesn’t say it,” he said. “Voters need to know that, or that he is opposed to expansion of embryonic stem cell research. His campaign doesn’t say it, so I need to bring that up.”
Cardin also has to gather black voters behind his candidacy at a time when the Democratic Party is presenting a ballot with mainly white male top candidates and Steele is angling to become the first black senator of Maryland.
“Minority voters are concerned about universal health coverage, they are concerned about moving forward in embryonic cell research, women right of choice, education being a national priority, they are concerned about protecting Social Security,” Cardin said. “They know that Michael Steele and Bush have one deal, and I have a different deal. I support theirs, so I am going to do well.”
But the support he cares most about is Myrna Edelman Cardin’s. He met his wife in elementary school, and they started dating in high school. They were married almost 42 years ago, and they still hold hands.
“Things were always happening if Ben was around,” she said. “Ben has a sense of adventure . . . There is always a sense of what is there next that we can do.”
The couple has a daughter, Deborah, who works at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, is married and has two daughters, Madeline, 6, and Julia, 2.
Cardin and Myrna had a son, Michael, who graduated from law school and loved to talk politics with his father. He killed himself when he was 30, in March 1998.
It was one of the toughest moments for the family, said Robert Rombro, Cardin’s friend since high school. “They are incredibly strong people,” he said. “They tried to move forward, they tried to live their life.”
His family and his Jewish faith helped Cardin to continue. Religion is a key element in his life, and he tries to be home every Friday night when his family and his brother Howard’s family gather for dinner, said Rombro.
One night during a fund-raising dinner, Cardin received a call from one of his granddaughters and left everything to attend her, recalled Myrna. She wanted to tell him that she had lost a tooth.
“That’s