By KAUKAB JHUMRA SMITH
Capital News Service
WASHINGTON – They say if you put 23 people in the same room, there’s a good chance two will share the same birthday.
So what happens when you put 10 people in a U.S. Senate race?
Kind of the same thing.
There’s just something strange about how the birthdays of the 10 candidates running for Maryland’s first open U.S. Senate seat in 20 years line up.
According to a mathematical principle known as the Birthday Paradox, you need to gather 23 people before the chance that two people share a birthday exceeds 50 percent.
Yet this group of 10 candidates includes two who were born on March 8 and a whopping seven who celebrate birthdays in March or October.
As a result, of a possible 12 astrological sun signs, determined by one’s date of birth, three signs figure repeatedly in the field for retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes’ seat.
Three contenders are Pisces. Three are Scorpios. The early favorites for their party nominations, Rep. Ben Cardin, D-Baltimore, and Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele of Largo, are both Librans born in October.
Of the two Pisces who share a birthday, A. Robert Kaufman, 74, is a Democrat and Corrogan Vaughn, 39, a Republican. One is a socialist, the other a businessman. One is white, the other black. But they’re both from Baltimore and seek the same public office.
Is all this coincidence? Or something more?
Here’s a breakdown:
— Rep. Ben Cardin, Democrat, born Oct. 5, 1943, Libra.
— Thomas Hampton, Republican, born Dec. 6, 1953, Sagittarius
— A. Robert Kaufman, Democrat, born March 8, 1931, Pisces
— Allan Lichtman, Democrat, born April 4, 1947, Aries
— Kweisi Mfume, Democrat, born Oct. 24, 1948, Scorpio
— Joshua Rales, Democrat, born Nov. 17, 1957, Scorpio
— Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, Republican, born Oct. 19, 1958, Libra
— Lise Van