Maryland Senate - poll shows steele competing

As the Democrats brawl in their bruising primary campaign to replace retiring Senator Paul Sarbanes (D) of Maryland, GOP nominee Lt. Gov. Michael Steele has quietly edged into competiveness with either of his likely opponents, a new Rasmussen Reports poll suggests:

In the latest Rasmussen Reports poll of the competitive U.S. Senate contest in Maryland, Republican Lt. Governor Michael Steele slightly trails each Democratic contender. Congressman Ben Cardin (D) leads Steele 47% to 42%. Former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume (D) leads the Republican 46% to 44%. This sets the stage for a closely fought general election no matter which Democrat wins the September 12 primary.

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Another surprise in the race is the ongoing competitiveness of presumptive GOP nominee Michael Steele in this very blue state. Despite ups and downs in his campaign and the polls, Steele is right back where he started over a year ago. Our first poll in this race, conducted in July 2005, Steele was only five points behind Cardin.
Read it all at the link above.

A cautionary note: while this is a poll of "likely voters," at this early stage it may have little predictive value, and the margin of error of ± 4.5% means Steele could actually be as much as 14 points behind Cardin - OR slightly ahead. Still, this is encouraging news for Republicans in this very dark blue state.