Maryland Republican Michael Steele is fed up with the Democrats' "ugly partisan political tricks." In a letter addressed to opponent Rep. Ben Cardin, Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.), Steele accuses the trio of engaging in the "very type of political behavior voters are sick of."

Steele, a Rightroots-endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate, has been followed by Democrat operatives who videotape his every move on the campaign trail. But on Saturday morning, Steele said the operative assigned to tape him crossed the line.

On the morning of September 30, I participated in a homecoming ceremony for the Army National Guard 243rd Engineers. The event -- as fitting for the occasion -- was non-political. Republicans and Democrats joined together to welcome home brave men and women returning from Iraq and I attended in my official capacity to spend time with the troops and their families.

While speaking with two mothers whose sons had died in Iraq, I noticed the ever present Democrat operative filming our conversation. A conversation with parents who have lost a loved one in combat is private in nature and has no place in partisan politics, and certainly not in the smear campaign you have waged against me even before I entered the race for United States Senate. The filming of this conversation demonstrates a callous disregard for families who have lost a loved one and is an indefensible invasion of privacy.

Steele doesn't hold back criticizing the Democrats for what he calls "gutter politics." He recites a litany of "political tricks" that his campaign has faced.

Congressman Cardin, while saying you have expressed outrage to “all concerned parties” for the racist comments on your senior staffer’s blog, you have yet to apologize to me. Chairman Dean, your personal pollster, Cornell Belcher, advocated racist attacks to “knock” me down and “discredit” me, and yet I have received no apology from you. And, Senator Schumer, your staffers pled guilty to a crime when they stole my credit report and violated my privacy and that of my family, but I have had no apology from you either.

Steele asks the three Democrats, plus Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lierman, to rectify the problem. "I eagerly await your prompt response," Steele writes in conclusion, probably knowing full well that he'll likely never hear anything from Ben Cardin, Howard Dean or Chuck Schumer.

UPDATE -- 2:01 p.m.: Our good friend Lorie Byrd of Wizbang Politics and I must think alike.