Primary View

I know that at least three Maryland congressional races feature primaries this year:

Eighth District
Chris Van Hollen is the most popular politician in Montgomery County but that doesn't dissuade Deborah Vollmer who ran against him in the Democratic primary in 2006 and received just 8.7 percent of the vote. Once again, Deborah is running because she believes that Rep. Van Hollen is too supportive of the Iraq War.

Fourth District:
Don't miss Kevin Gillogly's coverage of the Wynn-Edwards debate and request for videos which we'd be happy to post here. It has been a good week for Donna Edwards, who nearly beat incumbent Rep. Al Wynn last time and is back for a rematch. Edwards has been endorsed by EMILY's list which should help her raise significant funds. The League of Conservation Voters has also endorsed Edwards though my colleague Prof. Ron Walters at the University of Maryland discounts the importance of the latter endorsement:

Ronald W. Walters, a professor in government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, said endorsements generally are not that important unless they come with money or volunteers.

Karpinski said his organization would be ‘‘helpful” to the Edwards campaign. ‘‘We have several different ways we may engage in this race,” he said.

Walters said Wynn is going to have to pay attention to polls and to what people are saying about him.

‘‘He seems to know where he is, in another potentially tight race,” Walters said. ‘‘I think he’s making an effort. It’s a question whether people perceive that’s sufficient.”

Wynn’s campaign manager, Lori Sherwood, said the league endorsed Edwards in her last campaign.

Meanwhile, Speaker Pelosi is solidly behind Wynn. Posts on the topic on freestatepolitics.org and dailykos.org favor Edwards (see posts by Kos himsefl here, here, here, and here).

First District:
According to the Gazette, moderate Republican Wayne Gilchrest faces one of his toughest primary challenges ever in his Eastern Shore-based district. Gilchrest certainly feels it is one of the nastiest:

Gilchrest, seeking his 10th term representing Maryland’s 1st District, compared political campaigns to having irritable bowel syndrome, with some ‘‘flare-ups” more severe than others.

‘‘Some flare-ups are mild and some flare-ups are just like crushing glass in your bowel. This is less mild,” he said. ‘‘With [IBS] you do what you need to do to take care of your bowel. In a political campaign you do what you can to take care of your integrity and your soul.”

Gilchrest faces several challengers. As discussed in an earlier post, State Sen. Andrew Harris has been endorsed by Robert Ehrlich. Besides Andy Harris, Gilchrest is also begin challenged by Dr. Joe Arminio, Attorney John Lee Walter, and Joseph Banks. Harris appears the most formidable as he has raised over $500,000. You can jump down the rabbit hole and find out what the Republicans think about this race at Brian Griffiths, monoblogue, and Red Maryland, which clearly seems behind Andy Harris since he is listed as a "friend" on the blogroll while the incumbent is an unperson.