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Maryland
Senate
| MARYLAND |
Nov. 6,
2012 U.S. Senate |
|
Plurality: 780,737 votes (29.65 percentage points). MD
State Board of Elections
Notes: Sen. Ben Cardin (D) handily won a second term, defeating former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino (R), big-spending independent candidate Rob Sobhani (Unaff.), and Dean Ahmad (L). In the April 3 primaries, Cardin topped a field of nine candidates with 74.2% of the vote. In the Republican primary, Bongino finished first of ten candidates with 33.6%; the only other candidate in double figures was Richard J. Douglas at 28.3%. Sobhani, an Iranian-American, is chairman and CEO of Caspian Group. which he started in 1993 as Caspian Energy Consulting. He is also an author and former adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Sobhani previously ran in the Republican U.S. Senate primaries in 1992, finishing fifth, and 2000, finishing second. On June 25, 2012 his campaign submitted about 77,000 signatures to the State Board of Elections to qualify him as an independent candidate. (This was more than twice the required 34,713, which is 1% of the number of registered voters). The Board approved the petition in late August and Sobhani launched his campaign in September. All four candidates participated in a debate on "The Larry Young Morning Show" on WOLB-AM on Oct. 24 (>). A debate scheduled to be held at Salisbury University on Oct. 30 was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, and a debate scheduled for WTTG-TV FOX Channel 5 in Washington on Oct. 31 appears to have been cancelled as well. According to Open Secrets (>), Sobhani contributed $7.9 million of the $8.1 million his campaign spent. By comparison the Cardin campaign spent $6.3 million, the Bongino campaign $1.8 million and the Ahmad campaign $15,703. Campaign Managers: Ben Cardin: Shelly Hettleman "Founding director of a domestic violence program, worked in financial resource development for a local non-profit organization, served as a Legislative Assistant in the office of then-Congressman Cardin and on the staff of Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s first campaign for U.S. Senate." B.A. in political science from Northwestern University, 1986. Dan Bongino: Jim Gibbons ? Rob Sobhani: Sam Patten Principal, Office of Sam Patten, LLC from Jan. 2009. Eurasia program director for Freedom House, 2009-Apr. 2011. Senior advisor/speechwriter to the Undersecretary for Democracy and Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, June 2008-Jan. 2009. Director of international ventures at Marsh Copsey + Associates, Apr. 2004-Mar. 2008. Resident political director for Iraq (Mar. 2004-Feb. 2005) and country director for Russia (Apr. 2001-Mar. 2004) for the International Republican Institute. Legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, Sept. 1999-Apr. 2001. Maine campaign coordinator for Bush-Cheney, July-Nov. 2000. Kazakhstan, Dec. 1996-Sept. 1999... Public affairs director for Golden Eagle Partners, Jan. 1998-Sept. 1999. Government affairs manager for Hurricane Investments, Mar. 1997-Dec. 1998. Public affairs consultant for Chevron Munaigaz, Inc., Dec. 1996-Mar. 1997. Finance director on Collins for Senate, Mar.-Dec. 1996. Public affairs director for Golden Eagle Advisors. Press secretary on Collins for Governor, July-Nov. 1994. Reporter with the Camden Herald (ME), July 1993-July 1994. B.A. in American government from Georgetown University, 1993. See also: Anonymous. "Sobhani becomes surprise contender by pouring millions into sleepy U.S. Senate race." What's Up?, Oct. 19, 2012. Erin Cox. "From Secret Service to US Senate." Capital Gazette, Apr. 9, 2012. |
 missing: Rob Sobhani  |
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