ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)- Recent visitors to Michael Steele's senatorial campaign Web site might have wondered if they were in the right spot.
Prominently featured in a series of six rotating photographs on the home page was a picture of the Republican lieutenant governor and Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer, both smiling broadly with Hoyer's hand resting on Steele's shoulder. A second photo showed Steele chatting with another Democrat, senatorial candidate Kweisi Mfume, who could wind up as his opponent in November.
Democrats say there is a good reason Steele is featuring Democratic officials instead of Republicans on his Web site- to distance himself from President Bush.
"Michael Steele cannot be elected as a Bush Republican, which he is, and he's going out of his way to paint himself as a Democrat," Artie Harris, spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party, said Monday.
But Doug Heye, communications director for the Steele campaign, said including photographs of Democrats on the web site reflects the lieutenant governor's commitment "to building bridges, working with people of both parties to accomplish important goals for Marylanders."
"He's never made any bones that he's a Republican. It's something he talks about at great length in the campaign," Heye said.
Hoyer promptly asked that the photograph be removed, and Heye said Monday that it would be taken down and replaced with a photograph of Sen. John McCain, "which we think is more than a fair trade."
Hoyer said Steele has been "an unapologetic, enthusiastic and continuing supporter of Bush and the Bush administration."
"He wants very much to obscure that," Hoyer said.
Mark Clack, a spokesman for Mfume, said the Democratic senatorial candidate was a bit surprised that the photograph was posted by the Steele campaign, but had not insisted that it be taken off.
"I think it's part of their strategy to try and disguise Mr. Steele's party affiliation or cast him as not being a part of the GOP establishment," Clack said.
Gov. Robert Ehrlich's campaign also has drawn Democratic complaints for using a compliment paid to the governor by Democratic Comptroller William Donald Schaefer in its most recent television advertisement.
That draw a complaint from Schaefer, who said it implies he has endorsed the Republican governor. "I have publicly made it clear that I am fully supporting the nominee of my party, the Democratic Party," Schaefer said in a letter to the Ehrlich campaign last week in which he asked the advertisement be pulled.
But the ad was still running on Baltimore stations Monday, and Shareese DeLeaver, a spokeswoman for the governor's campaign, said only that: "We are in receipt of the letter, and we appreciate and respect the comptroller's thoughts."
Asked about Democratic claims that Steele and Ehrlich are trying to hide their party affiliations, DeLeaver said "nothing could be further from the truth."
Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lierman said Monday that Democrats have created a web site for Steele that will post photos the Republican candidate is not putting on his own web site. The first and only picture posted Monday was of Steele and Bush, but Lierman said other photographs will follow of big-name Republicans such as Vice President Cheney and presidential adviser Karl Rove so Marylanders know who really is supporting Steele's Senate campaign.
Audra Miller, spokeswoman for the Maryland Republican Party, said Steele "is well known and well respected by many people across the political spectrum."
"Rather than working on what's good for everyone, the Democratic Party wants to mud sling and tear people down," Miller said.
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