I live about a mile outside of Wynn's District (MD-4) (In MD-08, Chris Van Hollen(D)) and will likely be working as an election judge for the Special Election when they hold it.

Therefore, some of $1 Million dollars that the State of Maryland will be spending will likely end up in my pocket. What should I do with it?

Important development in Maryland. WaPo is reporting that:

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) will ask the state legislature to pass emergency legislation that would allow the state to hold a special general election to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D) without first holding a primary.

Yeah, I like the Wilson Pickett song, but I certainly don't want to see it applied to our actions now, especially today or tomorrow.

Tomorrow is March 31, the end not only of the month, but also of the quarter for FEC reporting.  And if you have been thinking about making a contribution to a House or Senate candidate, the hour is getting short, hence my title.

In the heat of the battle for the presidential nominee, efforts to draw attention to our worthy Congressional candidates often go somewhat unnoticed, as perhaps happened with my diary yesterday on Tom Perriello, a very good candidate in the 5th CD of Virginia.  There have been front-page stories about some of our candidates.  I'd like to use this diary to mention a few more.

Aren't you glad we took him out?

Rep. Albert Wynn (D-Md.) is expected to announce Thursday afternoon that he will leave the House in June to join a Washington, D.C., law firm, according to Democratic sources.

Wynn was defeated in February in his bid for a ninth term when he lost the Democratic primary to challenger Donna Edwards.

And good riddance. Question now is whether there will be a special election to fill the remainder of his term. I wouldn't mind getting Edwards into the seat sooner rather than next January.

In any case, let's get more Donna Edwards-type Democrats into Congress.

Update: As if we can ever avoid presidential politics -- this is a loss of one super delegate for Obama.

Update II: Another likely super delegate loss for Obama:

Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila is among several people named in a sealed indictment, officials said Thursday, as U.S. authorities made the first arrests in a long-running probe into his party's finances.

An Associated Press reporter saw at least five officials from the Popular Democratic Party as they were led in handcuffs into the U.S. federal building in San Juan.

Acevedo is a Obama super delegate.

Update III: But Obama picks up an add-on delegate in Connecticut.

Race tracker wiki: MD-04

It's been five long and grim years since this nation went to war based on lies. Five years, billion of dollars, untold Iraqi lives, nearly 4,000 American lives.

Most likely, the war will go on for years, say many commanders and military analysts. In fact, it's possible to consider this just the midpoint. The U.S. combat role in Iraq could have another half decade ahead - or maybe more, depending on the resilience of the insurgency and the U.S. political will to maintain the fight.

Let's consider this political will: six months ago, Darcy Burner began an effort to find a way out of Iraq. Since then, she has consulted with leading military experts, policy analysts, national security experts, and a group of top-tier Congressional candidates and elected officials from around the country to draft a plan to bring the War in Iraq to a responsible end.  

That work culminate today when Burner and her colleagues launch their plan at the Take Back America conference in DC. Here's a sneak peak.

Along with Burner, Blue Majority candidates Donna Edwards and Eric Massa, and the others are trying something new: creating a caucus of challengers working across the country on the same plan, with the same goal--ending the Iraq war in 2009. They're not only making a strong pledge to the voters in their districts that they'll do everything in their power to end this war; they're demonstrating now that they will be leaders in Congress.

From the group's press release:

Originating outside the Beltway and based on consultations with retired generals and other national security experts on a path forward to end the war, the challengers’ document lays out a series of actions for Congress to take to end United States military involvement in Iraq, strengthen America and improve our standing around the world, restore accountability and checks and balances to our government and work toward energy independence.

"I wholeheartedly endorse this plan as a responsible and forward looking plan for ending the war in Iraq. As Burner and her colleagues correctly note, bringing our troops home is the first, but not the only step that must be taken to ensure a debacle like Iraq never happens again," said Dr. Lawrence Korb, former assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. "This plan addresses the root causes that allowed the Bush Administration to lead this country into this mess, and sets us in the right direction. I applaud their efforts on this ambitious and sound strategy. This is progressive strength on national security in action."

Dr. Korb joins Brig. Gen. John Johns and Gen. Paul Eaton in endorsing this this responsible plan to end the war.

You can watch Burner and her colleagues launch the plan starting at 5:30 EDT today online via this live stream. It will also be available at Burner's Web site. The full plan will be posted at her site as well, after its launch today.

Race tracker wiki: WA-08 NY-29 MD-04

Tomorrow, at the Take Back America conference, Darcy Burner and a number of Democratic Congressional challengers will present their plan for getting us out of Iraq. That plan was developed with the assistance of a number of military experts and high-ranking military officials.

One of them is Gen. John Johns:

Burner and her colleagues, including other Blue Majority candidates (and winners!) Donna Edwards and Eric Massa, are trying something new: creating a caucus of challengers working across the country on the same plan, with the same goal--ending the Iraq war in 2009. They're not only making a strong pledge to the voters in their districts that they'll do everything in their power to end this war; they're demonstrating now that they will be leaders in Congress.

Just imagine what the Freshman class of the 111th Congress is going to look like, is going to achieve, with these candidates as members.

Update: The video is mysteriously not available at the moment, and they are working on getting it fixed.

Update 2: Video working now.

Race tracker wiki: WA-08 NY-29 MD-04

Unfortunately, Donna Edwards isn't in Congress yet. Hopefully her encouragement, and the knowledge that reinforcements are on the way, will help the Democrats in the House hold onto their recently rediscovered spine on FISA.

On the Web:

Donna Edwards for Congress
Blue Majority

Consider this a bonus open thread.

Race tracker wiki: MD-04

Last week, Democrats worked to replace Democrat Albert Wynn in Maryland's fourth district with progressive Democrat Donna Edwards.  This was an overwhelmingly liberal district where John Kerry beat George W. Bush by a 78%-21% margin, one of the most lopsided margins in the nation.  Donna Edwards will likely hold MD-04 seat as long as she wawnts.  Democrats appear to be doing the same thing in Iowa's third district, but it is a big, big mistake.  While MD-04 went for John Kerry by 78%-21%, IA-03 favored George W. Bush by about 100 votes in 2004.  

I'm tired and happy, and the last few days have been kind of a blur.  Anyway, I just thought I'd come by and answer questions and thank you for your incredible help over the past few years.  Together we're going to change Congress and the direction of this country.

Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.  I'll be here for an hour or so.

You can always find more at http://www.donnaedwardsforcongress.com.

In Maryland's 4th Congressional District, Representative Al Wynn was known for his habit of taking donations from big corporations...and then returning the favor with his votes. On more than one occasion, his votes sided with large, multinational corporations, even at the expense of his own constituents. One of those corporations was Wal-Mart.

In 2005, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut proposed an ammendment to the 2006 labor appropriations bill. As explained on TomPaine.com at the time, "This bill barred any spending of money by the Department of Labor to implement the part of the deal the department had made with Wal-Mart calling for advance notice of inspections any time the DOL planned to investigate Wal-Mart."

Congrats, Donna. And thank you!

Race tracker wiki: MD-04

Only yesterday morning I posited a very strong Obama performance, saying

Predictions in primaries are always dicey.  It is cold today, it may rain or snow in parts of the region.  Still, I expect a heavy turnout, and would think the lower end of Obama's margin in the two states is 18%, and conceivable could reach 25.  In DC it will be a blow-out:  the margin will be better than 2-1, and it is not inconceivable that Obama could reach 70%.

.  As I look at not quite complete returns from the three jurisdictions, I see VA at 64-35 (+29), MD at 59-37 (+22), and DC at 75-24 (+51!).  My title had asked the question "Game on, or game over?"   I now thing, barring something totally unexpected, the answer is getting very close to the latter.  Or to use an old metaphor from sports, I hear the fat lady warming up in the next room.

It's official. Meet your new congresswoman from Maryland! Donna Edwards still has a general election to ratify the victory, but in this district, that's a done deal.

As I wrote time and time again, we don't have the money to buy off our politicians, and the bad Democrats know we're not about to start voting for Republicans. So the only way we can hold our caucus accountable is to send notice that we will primary them. And sure, they may survive such primaries. But sometimes they won't.

We'll be working this fall for "more" Democrats, but today we struck a blow on behalf of better Democrats.

Our caucus is once again on notice. If they continue to serve corporate interests rather than their constituents, if they insist on remaining aloof to the nation's popular sentiment, they'll get booted in a Democratic primary like Joe Lieberman in 2006 and Al Wynn in 2008.

Race tracker wiki: MD-04

51 percent reporting.

Almost half reporting now ...

Race tracker wiki: MD-04

39 percent reporting.

Off to a promising start.

Update: Open Left is tallying precincts as they come in. It's starting to look like a rout. This may turn into the biggest victory of the night.

More precincts. PG-13-06: in 2006 it was 463-265 Wynn, and in 2008 568-513 for Donna. PG-13-04: It went 260-250 Wynn in 2006, but in 2008, it went 469-299 for Edwards. Turning into a rout. Brutal but awesome.

Update II: Hilarious!

Update III: This is turning into a serious rout.

Update IV: How the fuck did I reverse those numbers? It's DONNA who is winning! Not the corrupt ass.

Race tracker wiki: MD-04

12:15 pm -- Via Open Left:

The Washington Post has projected Donna Edwards as the winner in the Democratic primary for Maryland's 4th congressional district!

Via WTOP:

At 11:55 pm

U.S. House (Dem) - District 4 (88 of 173 precincts - 51 percent)
Michael Babula - Dem (1%)
Donna Edwards - Dem (59%)
Jason Jennings - Dem (1%)
George McDermott - Dem (1%)
George Mitchell - Dem (1%)
Al Wynn - Dem (37%)

County breakdowns with better numbers below....

One soggy blogger's take on a wet night in Maryland

Last week I promised to figure out what went wrong in the Mark Pera-Dan Lipinski race. I've been delayed in that assessment for two big reasons -- the elections and work finishing up my book, Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in the Digital Era which I must deliver to Penguin on March 20th.

However, my book writing and my efforts to figure out what went wrong in Illinois crossed paths, as I was working on a case study dealing with Rep. Carol Shea-Porter's unlikely victories in both the primary and general election in 2006.

On September 13, Shea-Porter rocked the political world by winning her primary by a 54-35 margin despite the fiercest efforts of the party establishment. She had been outspent $192,558 to $19,023 in the primary, yet had been the beneficiary of record low turnout that allowed her small grassroots army to swamp Craig’s voters.

The Jim Webb-Harris Miller primary battle in Virginia in 2006 also featured dismal turnout, around two percent if I remember correctly. So could it be that our nascent movement can only able to win tough primary races in low-turnout affairs, in which low-information voters are kept away from the polls and only the most informed and engaged participate?

There may be something there. The Pera campaign worked to identify the most likely voters and persuade them to back his campaign. However, the presidential race and Obama's presence on the ticket spurred massive turnout and a flood of new voters that had not been previously identified. And faced with an unknown race on the ballot, they went with the safety of the incumbent.

But is that a perfect rule? The 2006 Montana primary between Jon Tester and John Morrison had extremely high turnout, as did the primary between Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont in Connecticut. Then again, Tester had enough money to advertise in a state that was cheap to advertise in, unlike Webb's Virginia or Pera's Chicago media market. And Lamont had plenty of money to get out his own message. And in both those cases, those primaries were the top-of-the-ticket contests. Voters turned out precisely to vote for Tester and Lamont, unlike last Tuesday's voters which turned out to vote for Obama.

So my tentative lesson in all of this is that we're most effective in races where we can get two out of the following three:

1. we're the main attraction on the ballot,

2. we have the money to get out our message (duh), and

3. turnout remains low.

So what does that say about today's primary in Maryland between netroots hero Donna Edwards and Al Wynn?

It's an expensive media market, the main attraction is the presidential primary, and turnout will likely be near record highs. If Donna Edwards wins -- and observers on the ground are gung-ho that she can pull it off -- she will have done so by bucking the lessons from those previous primaries. In other words, it'll be a tough task.

But no one ever said that taking on entrenched and corrupt machine politicians would ever be easy.

Race tracker wiki: IL-03 MD-04