Michael Steele

Though neither is known for joking around, beleagured restaraunteur Denise Whiting and former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele will be among those competing for the title of Baltimore's Funniest Celebrity. The Cafe Hon owner and the former face of the Republican party will vie for the title against musician Deanna Bogart, one-time city council candidate De'von Brown,  meteorologist Steve Fertig, news anchor Jeff Barnd and Baltimore Sun sports columnist Peter Schmuck.  If most of those folks don't strike you as particularly funny, that's exactly the point, says Richard Siegel, the founder of the event, which will happen for the second time in Baltimore on June 27. The contest has been running for 18 years in D.C. "I think people that are serious are funny because people don't expect it -- which is funny," says Siegel, a long-time stand-up comedy performer.

Republicans in Maryland often wonder why they lose. The letter sent last week by Michael Steele and Audrey Scott to Maryland Republicans urging them to vote for expanded gambling is a perfect example of how the party solidifies its minority status. In it, the former Republican National Committee chairman and lieutenant governor and a former Maryland GOP chairwoman rally the troops for crony capitalism as if they were wearing Halloween masks of Senate President Mike Miller and Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Michael Steele said he's sorry to Rush Limbaugh. Why stop there? The man who won the Republican National Committee chairmanship on the strength of his silver tongue called the radio personality "incendiary," "ugly" and - worse! - an "entertainer." He also insisted that Limbaugh is not the de facto leader of the Republican Party. Limbaugh took that last one as a compliment, responding on the air: "I would be embarrassed to say that I'm in charge of the Republican Party in the sad-sack state that it's in."

Maryland's former LG was spotted today by POLITCO having lunch at Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington, D.C. with funny man Pauly Shore. Shore has some upcoming gigs at the 9:30 Club, but the D.C.-centered website failed to mention that Michael Steele is also on tour. He's is set to compete in Baltimore later this month for the title Charm City's " Funniest Celebrity . "  Last year the award went to Baltimore Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld. We couldn't speak to Steel directly, but show producer Richard Siegel got him on the line and reported that Steele made fun of his recent, shaky tenure at the helm of the Republican National Committee: "Since the RNC gig didn't work out as well as I thought it would, I thought I would give this a try. " Steele will share the spotlight with notorious Baltimore "Hon" Denise Whiting, failed city council candidate De'Von Brown, FOX 45 anchor Jeff Barnd and musician Deanna Bogart.

Michael Steele's multi-tasking kid sister billed his Senate campaign more than $37,000 for "catering/web" services provided by her investment company. Serving up coffee, coding in Java and betting on Jamaican Blue Mountain futures - all in a day's work at Brown Sugar Unlimited LLC. Even with all that catering, Web wizardry and investing going on, Monica Turner somehow found time to be a pediatrician, mom and ex-Mrs. Mike Tyson. How did she keep all those balls in the air? Sibling rivalry, baby.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean slapped Maryland Democrats yesterday, saying state leaders need to promote more black candidates in the future so "we do not have another Michael Steele problem." "I just think we have got to do a better job in Maryland four years from now about diversity on the ticket," Dean said during a Washington breakfast, raising particular concerns about Steele, the state's black Republican lieutenant governor who ran a competitive race for U.S. Senate partly on a theme that Democrats have taken African-American voters for granted.

The media have piled on poor Michael Steele. From Rush Limbaugh's radio network to the columns of The Baltimore Sun, the Republican national chairman got pummeled for his dumb remark on a comedy show that nobody watches. A few days after Steele's appearance on D.L. Hughley Breaks the News, CNN quietly announced that it was dropping the program. But Steele's biggest challenge lurks within the insular world of party politics. As soon as he became chairman, the former Maryland lieutenant governor cleaned house at the national headquarters.

Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. picked state Republican Party Chairman Michael S. Steele as his gubernatorial running mate yesterday, declaring that two self-made candidates were joining forces to form an "opportunity ticket" crossing racial and geographic boundaries. Steele, 43, is a Prince George's County resident and former corporate attorney who has spent two years trying to rebuild a teetering GOP organization shut out of statewide office since Charles McC. Mathias left the U.S. Senate 16 years ago. He has never held elected office but is credited with engineering the party's most recent victory, a decision last month by the state Court of Appeals to overturn legislative district maps drawn by Gov. Parris N. Glendening and other top Democrats.

NEW YORK - The Republican Party offers Americans of all backgrounds a shot at prosperity by fostering economic growth and competition, Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele declared last night in a prime-time convention speech that ridiculed John Kerry as unfit to lead the nation. Granted the most prominent speaking role of any African-American at the convention, Steele invoked Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as he built a case that the Republicans' vision of helping the poor without "destroying" the rich is more favorable to blacks - as well as whites - than the Democrats' vision is. "What truly defines the civil rights challenge today isn't whether you can get a seat at the lunch counter," Steele said.

The day after he won Maryland's gubernatorial election, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. appeared before the press, gripped his running mate's shoulder and declared, "Michael Steele is my real partner. That was not a campaign slogan." It might seem an odd thing to stress at that moment, but considering the topsy-turvy relationships between Maryland's top two executives over the years, Ehrlich's advertisement of harmony made sense. In addition, the remarks foreshadowed what Steele says will be his highly active tenure as lieutenant governor.

Though neither is known for joking around, beleagured restaraunteur Denise Whiting and former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele will be among those competing for the title of Baltimore's Funniest Celebrity. The Cafe Hon owner and the former face of the Republican party will vie for the title against musician Deanna Bogart, one-time city council candidate De'von Brown,  meteorologist Steve Fertig, news anchor Jeff Barnd and Baltimore Sun sports columnist Peter Schmuck.  If most of those folks don't strike you as particularly funny, that's exactly the point, says Richard Siegel, the founder of the event, which will happen for the second time in Baltimore on June 27. The contest has been running for 18 years in D.C. "I think people that are serious are funny because people don't expect it -- which is funny," says Siegel, a long-time stand-up comedy performer.

Maryland's Republican Party is once again in the red and plans to move its party headquarters to cut costs, according to financial reports discussed Saturday at the party's annual convention. The party owes $122,000, most of it to two vendors, and has $48,000 in its bank accounts, GOP Treasurer R. Christopher Rosenthal told delegates meeting at the Sheraton Annapolis Hotel. The party also has access to a $33,000 line of credit, which he says adds flexibility. "I'd like to see it better than that," Rosenthal said.

One thing about Michael Steele: He's not afraid to mix it up. Push the former Maryland lieutenant governor in an interview, and he'll come right back at you. That's how it went last week with the Johns Hopkins University graduate when he was asked for his reaction to those who say MSNBC hired him recently to be the channel's token conservative — a right-wing, Republican version of the role Alan Colmes played on Fox News. "What's my reaction?" Steele said. "Tune in, that's my reaction.

Dear Michael Steele, Don't do it, Mike! Sorry for the familiarity, but given that you're our former lieut-guv and all, I thought it would be OK. Plus, this is urgent, and there's simply no time for formalities. I saw in the New York Post last week that you're back in the job market, now that the Republican National Committee has shown you the door, and you're already talking to both Fox News and CNN about becoming a paid commentator. No big shock there, given that you were previously a Fox talker and barely broke your media stride during the couple of years that you chaired the RNC. And no surprise because TV is obviously your natural habitat — you look good, you schmooze well and, probably most important in this medium, at any point in time you are likely to say something crazy.

If you listen to his critics, you'd have to conclude that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has single-handedly destroyed the Republican Party during his two-year term. Never mind that the RNC set fundraising records, helped generate the largest midterm turnout for any party in American history, helped pick up the most House seats in 72 years, and, for good measure, helped win the most state legislative seats in 82 years. Certainly, Mr. Steele has at times been a controversial chairman.

Ah, Thanksgiving. Has there ever been a year when we truly needed a break from the constant carping that has become our national sport? Just for today, let's leave it to the cable TV barkers and the online posters to make sure that everything that's wrong with the world gets duly noted. You can even re-join them on Friday. But for today, let's give credit where it's due. I'll even start. Here are 23 things I'm thankful for: •The prospect of seeing all those plastic bags that currently get tangled in trees instead impaled on the spikes of the scary sculpture Pat Turner wants to erect in Westport.

I strongly support Michael S. Steele's candidacy for one simple reason: We need to change Washington. Congress doesn't need another career politician or political insider. We need someone who is a strong, independent voice for what is right, regardless of party politics. I know Michael Steele, and I know he will shake up Washington for all the right reasons. We see it almost every day: runaway spending, scandal, legislation written by and for special interests.

Instead of scheduling a time for their debut debate in Maryland's U.S. Senate contest, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin and Lt. Governor Michael S. Steele are quarreling about who first approached whom to schedule a meeting. Via a series of letters between their campaign staffs, Cardin and Steele both claim to have made the first move. "In his letter yesterday acknowledging Michael Steele's desire for debates, Congressman Cardin wrote `We should let our staffs work out the details,'" Steele spokesman Doug Heye said in a letter.

The two national political party committees are dinosaurs, and as with the dinosaurs before them, their time has come and gone. I offer this critique from the vantage point of a rare animal. I am one of the few people (if not the only one) to have worked for both the Democratic National Committee (DNC), in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the Republican National Committee (RNC), in the early years of the Bush presidency. I began thinking about the relevance of the national parties after reading story after story about their current health.

A majority of state Republican Party chairmen have signed a letter supporting Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele, pointing to his accomplishments in the job. "The charge of any national chairman is to raise money and win elections," read the letter, signed by 29 state committees plus those in Guam and the District of Columbia. "With over $100 million raised, victories in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, and victories in 29 of 37 special elections, Michael Steele has demonstrated that under his chairmanship the RNC has the ability, focus, and drive to lead Republicans to a sweeping victory in November."