2012 Maryland Senate Debates: on Principles & Values


Rob Sobhani: Ran in Republican Senate primary in 1992 and 2002

Sobhani, a former professor at Georgetown University, first ran for Senate in 1992, losing to Alan Keyes in the Republican primary. Since then, Sobhani has dropped his party affiliation. [Sonbhani ran again in 2000 when he lost to candidate Paul Rappaport in the Republican primary].

Sobhani has recently faced obstacles the other candidates, as both Bongino and Cardin have refused to debate against Sobhani. "I think [they don't want to debate against me] because the other candidates are afraid to debate my campaign," Sobhani said. "I'm not the loser in that, the people of Maryland are. I have put together a plan that neither political party can come close to, and that is why they want to avoid debating me."

To date, Sobhani's campaign has spent close to $4 million, the majority of which came from Sobhani, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Source: The Towson Towerlight on 2012 Maryland Senate debate Oct 21, 2012

Rob Sobhani: OpEd: Major-party candidates afraid of debating Sobhani

A broadcast campaign advertisement does not provide enough time to fully explain a dynamic idea, and the major party candidates for U.S. Senate, Democratic incumbent Ben Cardin and Republican Dan Bongino, know it and appear to be intent on keeping independent Rob Sobhani and his supporters quiet. It is interesting that neither Senator Cardin nor Mr. Bongino will debate Mr. Sobhani even though he has had just as strong a showing in the polls as Mr. Bongino. The lack of debate suggests that these two candidates are threatened by Mr. Sobhani's already strong showing and are seeking to squelch his progress by not allowing him exposure to the voting public.
Source: Baltimore Sun on 2012 Maryland Senate debate Oct 15, 2012

  • The above quotations are from 2012 Maryland Senate Debate.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Principles & Values.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Dan Bongino on Principles & Values.
  • Click here for more quotes by Ben Cardin on Principles & Values.
Candidates and political leaders on Principles & Values:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 04, 2018