Michael Steele

The Washington Post has a profile piece on trailing Maryland Republican senatorial candidate Michael Steele. In the article, a Post reporter finds Steele excoriating Democrats for fraudulently obtaining his credit report, saying he'd willingly give it to anyone.

At his Hagerstown speech, he criticized Cardin because Democratic Party operatives fraudulently obtained his credit report.

"Anyone who wants my credit report, I'd be happy to give it to you," Steele said. "If you want to know about me, ask me."

Later that day, a Washington Post reporter asked: Is it possible to get your credit report?

"No, it's not," Steele said.

This is particularly interesting because the article states that Steele had some serious money problems when he tried to work as a Republican consultant.

Since 1999, after he'd left his last job, as a lawyer, Steele had been trying to start a consulting business. Bray Barnes, who became Steele's partner in the firm, said they sought to represent countries or companies in their dealings with the federal government, relying on their Republican contacts in Washington.

"I would say we had pretty limited success," said Barnes, a lawyer in Toms River, N.J. He couldn't remember ever signing up a client. There was at least one: During the campaign for governor, after Barnes was no longer working with the business, the Maryland Republican Party was paying the firm, and by extension Steele, a consulting fee of $5,000 a month.

With little money coming in from the business, Steele has said, he drained retirement accounts. He told an audience in a recent speech that his family went without health insurance for three years.

"Don't break anything, because Daddy can't afford to fix it," he recalled telling his sons then.

On Nov. 5, 2002, Steele's election win erased all that. His current job pays $120,000 a year. A rocketing political career had finally made a struggling business one irrelevant. He savored the victory.