This year's contest for Maryland's open Senate seat was long thought to be somewhat competitive, but recent polls shows it may now represent the best opportunity Republicans have to pick up a seat currently held by a Democrat. A Mason-Dixon poll released over the weekend gives the Democratic candidate, Rep. Ben Cardin, a 3 percentage-point lead over Republican Michael Steele, within the poll's margin of error.

Rep. Ben Cardin, a low-key policy wonk first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates at age 23, defeated ex-Rep. and former NAACP chief Kweisi Mfume in the race for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Maryland. Cardin beat Mfume by a 46 to 38 percent margin.

Locked in a tight Democratic primary race, Maryland Senate candidate Kweisi Mfume will officially receive the endorsement of former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening this afternoon at a press conference in Annapolis. In a contest in which the Democratic establishment, including House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, lined up early behind Mfume's main rival-current Rep. Ben Cardin- in a crowded primary field,the endorsement marks Mfume's biggest to date.

Less than two months before Maryland's Democratic primary, a new Baltimore Sun poll shows U.S. Senate candidates Rep. Benjamin Cardin and former NAACP president and ex-Rep. Kweisi Mfume in a virtual dead heat. The poll has Cardin leading Mfume 32 percent to 28 percent; the poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.