From Marc Korman.
As everyone knows by now, the Trent Lott Effect struck again last week when Al Wynn announced his early retirement from Congress. As I discussed in a previous post, the Trent Lott Effect is named after the former Mississippi Senator who decided to leave the Senate less than a year into his six year term to go lobby. Other recent examples of the Trent Lott Effect are Congressman Richard Baker leaving Congress halfway through his term to lobby for the hedge fund industry.
On the one hand, Al Wynn’s move was understandable. He was handily defeated in the February Democratic primary and needs a new job. I do not think anyone is surprised anymore by a legislator choosing to lobby in their post-elected office career.
On the other hand, Wynn could have handled the situation much differently. One approach would be to resign immediately upon lining up a new job, not waiting three more months. Those three months will be filled with conflicts of interest and raise the question of what Wynn is still doing in Congress, representing his new firm or his constituents.
But even better, Wynn could have followed the example set so far by the other losing Maryland incumbent. Like Wynn, Wayne Gilchrest lost his primary yet he shows no sign of abandoning his job before it is done, in January of 2009. It is not as though job opportunities will not be available to Al Wynn then. Democrats are heavily favored to still control Congress, could control the White House, and Wynn will still be a former member of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. The best course would have been for Wynn to hold off on the job hunt until his current job was done.
Wynn’s move has opened a new front in the legislator to lobbyist migration. First, we had legislators who went into lobbying after their terms ended, either due to electoral defeat or retirement. Two examples of that type of migration are former District 16 Delegate Gil Genn and former Louisiana Senator John Breaux. Second, we had legislators retiring during their terms for the specific purpose of lobbying, for example former District 18 Delegate John Hurson and Trent Lott. Now, Al Wynn has presented a case of a legislator who loses reelection but still has significant time remaining in his term, and resigns to lobby.
There are plenty of ethical issues presented by what Wynn has chosen to do. But there are also issues of district representation. When a vacancy requires a special election, as all House of Representatives vacancies do, a district can be without a voice for extended periods of time. When a legislator dies in office, that problem is unavoidable. In the case of Al Wynn or Richard Baker, it is easily avoidable and a disservice to their constituents to leave their district’s without a representative.
Al Wynn may have lost the 2008 Democratic primary, but he won the 2006 general election. Winning that election did not only give Wynn the privilege of representing the 4th Congressional District in Congress until January of 2009, it also gave him the obligation to do so. Legislators at all levels should be wary of following his example. If the people give you the honor of their vote, you should give them the honor of your full service.
Monday, April 07, 2008
The Trent Lott Effect Strikes Again
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Special Election to Replace Al Wynn
The Post is reporting that there will be a special election to fill the seat that will be vacated when Rep. Al Wynn steps down in a couple of months.
To save money, there will be only a general election, without a primary. This will require the passage of a law to allow a primariless congressional election - a statute that will have to be introduced and go through the entire legisltive process between now and midnight Monday, when the 2008 session of the General Assembly ends.
Should Donna Edwards win the special election and then subsequent November election, she will have higher seniority next year than other freshmen representatives in the House.
While this is an unusual situation, I think it can serve as a precedent for filling state legislative vacancies. One of the arguments made against midterm elections to fill vacancies in the General Assembly is that the primary would be held early in the election year, while the General Assembly is in session and the appointed replacement (who would presumably be running in the midterm election) would be both too busy to campaign and prohibited by law from fundraising.
While the current situation is not identical, it does create a precedent for bypassing the primary to fill a legislative vacancy.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
A Sure Sign of a Winning Campaign
All elections have tell tale signs of when the mood changes. Almost always it is not when a poll comes out and has you ahead by x points. Usually it is not when a memorable phrase such as when "You are not Jack Kennedy," line was uttered.
The tell tale sign is when some average person not political connected, not hard wired for electoral politics says or does something so obvious that you know the race is over. There is no need to count any more ballots. The result is no longer in doubt.
Here is that story from the Donna Edwards - Al Wynn race yesterday.
The story is not mine. The story comes from Tom Pollow, who is a member of PDA. He was working a Wynn stronghold of a precinct in PG County. A driver for Wynn was delivering lunches to Wynn volunteers just after noon. He came up to Tom and asked him if he was there for Edwards or Wynn. Tom pointed to his buttons and said "Donna". Tom said the Wynn volunteer had left about an hour ago. The driver still had several lunches to dispatch. Tom, a large man who was once a professional wrestler, worked two meals out of the Wynn driver for himself.
Then the two of them started talking about the race. Then came the key moment. The driver asked Tom how did he know that Donna would not stray from her original message. Tom said he didn't know but he did know that if Donna stopped supporting policies to help common folks that PDA and its members would find someone to run against her.
The driver, who remember was paid to deliver food to Wynn supporters, then talked about how Wynn forgot about the people of the district. The driver concluded with "I'm voting for Donna."
At that moment the race was over.
Other observations from the front lines
Sorry this is my first post since the pre-election. I was working as a Democratic Area Coordinator in LD20. I had four precincts that were in CD4 and one in CD8. I also looked in on a few other precincts nearby. The striking thing for me was how many of the Edwards supporters stayed longer at more precincts than Wynn supporters.
Here is a picture of Edwards supporter at the George Meany Center (05-07) which is at New Hampshire Avenue and the Beltway. The Wynn supporter was sitting in her Luxus SUV about 100 yards from the polling place. (The polling place itself is a 200+ yard walk from the parking lot.) The Edwards supporter was about 25 yards from the polling place out in the elements. Note the picture. That's dedication. That's the sign of a winning campaign.
Update: I want to id this person but I forgot to get her name. So if you are out there please respond and I will put your name to this picture.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
No Shame for Wynning
Throughout this primary election, I have been willing to overlook Congressman Al Wynn's shortcomings. He had a messy public divorce where he alledgely kicked his wife out of his house on Christmas. He was constantly having to file amended FEC reports because his could not keep his contributions in order. He was active -- almost too active in local PG Co politics -- playing kingmaker when he should have been focusing on being a national legislator. He had some of the worst constituent service where his caseworkers spent more time assulting volunteers for his opponent in August 2006. He was even known to have joked about his "stealing" the election in 2006 when three precinct boxes showed up weeks after the vote helping him to win. But the largest concern was also the main one: He had a series of horrible votes on issues that favored wealthy corporate interests over his own working class electorate. His MoCo supporters have tried to tell me "that he learned his lesson and is a better Congressman" after his narrow victory in September 2006 to upstart Donna Edwards.
He has not learned. Here it is the night before the election and we have the following stories coming from Wynn in the past seven days:
1) He files a complaint with the FEC saying his principal opponent, Donna Edwards, is part of a "vast left wing conspiracy". That term incidentally comes the name of a book written by a right wing reporter for the National Review. Oh and no violation of campaign finance law is cited.
2) He puts out a series of robo calls highlighting Donna Edwards having multiple tax liens on her home, which is true. But he just happens to fail to mention that she had the liens -- as she pointed out at numerous debates -- because she was a single mother trying to raise a young son without health insurance for herself.
3) Now the latest is Wynn has created a flyer that implied that he and Sen. Barack Obama are a team. That they share the same values. If Obama and Wynn share the same values then our country is in deep deep trouble.
4) He wraps himself in the mantle of change candidate, Barack Obama, by inviting himself onto Fox News to debate for the Illinois Senator. He was not selected by the Obama campaign. He did it himself. That is not how you earn the good graces of the campaign you want to help.
I have been involved in politics for almost thirty years. I have seen nasty fights for office. This one takes the cake. In fact there is so much cake being tossed -- the vast majority from him, his supporters and his personal attack dog at many debates has been Dr. Michael Babula -- that the main issue is being missed. Al Wynn has reached his shelf-life as an elected official. His expiration reads September 2006. It is time for him to go. He is beyond the pale as a representative.
I gave my props to him to his winning a debate last week. He was good. But then you have to wonder when the moderator was a member of his "Women for Wynn" team. I wondered why the questions always put Donna on the defensive and made Wynn look good. Is there nothing he won't do to win? I doubt it; and the flyer coming out of PG County is latest exhibit.
Wynn may get more votes tomorrow but he will not be a winner. If he does win he should start Wednesday February 13 looking for a job in the Obama Administration because he burned so many bridges to win this his final election. He has been shameless in his zeal to wynn. I see little chance that he could ever win another election after Tuesday.
I have met Al Wynn. He is quite personable. We talked on Saturday about how he has to care for his elderly mother. The look on his face said it all. He was not a politician then. He was Albert Wynn, the son, caring for an elderly parent something any adult child can relate to.
We will gather in a few hours to elect a Democratic nominee for the 4th District of Maryland. This has been Al Wynn's seat for 16 years. In that time he has developed a win at any cost that there is nothing left to him. I am certain that at one time Congressman Wynn was a decent and honorable man. It may have been when he first ran for State Delegate in 1982. He probably had many ideas of what he wanted to do to make our community a better place. Those days are a distant memory.
Al Wynn has got to go. The best line of the campaign was uttered by another challenger for this seat, Jason Jennings, when he said that Al Wynn "is like a championship prize fighter who has stayed around too long". Jennings is correct. Please vote Al Wynn into an early retirement. There is little left to admire.
Please support Donna Edwards. We need her.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Viewing the Wynn-Edwards GOTV Operations
Yesterday both sides in the Wynn-Edwards race had their weekend rallies. Seeing the campaigns organized on the Saturday before gives you an excellent look at the strength of each campaign.
The Edwards campaign had two bus caravans that when from their respective HQs in MoCo and PG to a central meeting at the New Carrolton Metro. Here is a report from Progressive Democrats of America web site. Since the blogging community would probably not cover the same for Al Wynn, I went to see how his operation was running.
He has a well organized operation -- better than it has been in the past. Bags were picked and volunteers assembled. At the Electrical Workers site in Lanham in the morning, over a hundred people were there. I covered the MoCo afternoon event. Politicker MD did a nice job of covering the who said what and the latest from Wynn's camp on the robo calls about Donna Edwards' tax liens. The best defense of Donna's response was written at FSP by Eric Luedtke.
The Only Poll in the Race
Donna's camp is giddy with the prospect of unseating the eight term incumbent. Her internal poll has her up by 8 points. Wynn's campaign manager dismisses it without elaboration. This means that it is: a) true and she can't say it publicly; b) not true but she does not want to reveal what her side has on seen with daily tracking polls; or c) she is bluffing.
I have a video of Wynn's speech at the Rockville rally at MCEA and once I figure out how to upload onto YouTube then I will embed it here. Wynn talks about his robo calls are "Very encouraging". The unsaid message is -- the Donna Edwards' tax lien robo call is cutting into her lead.
Comparing Field Operations
Wynn has a strong field operation; but I think Donna's stronger. I witnessed Edwards' field operation on Sunday. I see more boots on the ground for Donna. The Wynn campaign will tell you Edwards workers are out-of-towners. Maybe but Wynn's campaign manager and I were on the same successful Chris Van Hollen race of 2002 that relied on out of district folks that were combined with several local activists. Edwards field campaign looks exactly like Van Hollen in 2002. Still a close example -- at least from the MoCo perspective is the Ida Reuben vs. Jamie Raskin race of 2006.
Donna Edwards has the feel of a winning campaign. She has that buzz. The "it" you need to get over the top.
I see strength on Al's campaign but it lacks the same intensity as hers. I have also been on a campaign similar to Wynn's (that is an incumbent who has had to ask his dwindling core supporters to get him over the top another time). There are only so many times you can call on people before they stop coming. I am not saying that is the case with Wynn's field operations. But freshness in a campaign is critical in a close campaign. I don't get that feel with his campaign. And winning campaigns don't release robo calls that attack your opponent personally in the final weekend of the campaign.
Still, two of the biggest names in MoCo Politics were at Wynn's rally in Rockville. Al Wynn has Ike. Doug Duncan, more casual than I have seen him in several post-Executive appearances, was also there. In addition, Sen. Forehand, whose district is outside of CD4, was there. So was his Women for Wynn co-chair, Loretta Knight, who is Clerk of Court. Delegate Reznik, whose district is about half in CD4 and half in CD8, came late from another event.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
WaPo Endorses Edwards; Gazette Goes for Wynn
Earlier this week the Gazette endorsed incumbent Al Wynn. This morning the WaPo has endorsed challenger Donna Edwards.
I wonder how much a newspaper endorsement has nowadays.
Donna Edwards Up By 8
Here is the first poll of this race. Edwards is leading Wynn by 8.
The information comes to us from Matt Stoller at Open Left. Thanks Matt. This is an internal poll (means it is a candidate's own poll). The pollster is Donna's. You don't leak polls unless you are ahead.
Wynn needs to respond.
If the Wynn camp wants to discount this poll they will either discredit this pollster or need to release their own internal poll. This is a game of chicken.
Wynn has some of the worst reelect numbers I have ever seen.
As Matt points out Wynn had a very low reelect number (32%). An incumbent with a reelect number under 50% is not long for office. There has been a whisper campaign for the past few months -- that Wynn's reelect number against a generic Democrat was under 40%. Lake Research says it is 32%. That adds "ex-" to your title "Congressman" 9 times out of 10.
This explains Wynn's last two weeks of ads and robo calls. It would explain Wynn filing the FEC complaint against Edwards last week. It explains the negative ads.
This poll is already old.
The +/- is 5%, which is on the high side. The poll was conducted on Jan 29 and 30. But released Friday. Making the news -- while hot today -- potentially old. It was done pre-Super Tuesday, pre-FEC complaint, pre-negative TV ads. Still look at Edwards' gain from October to today. She gains 18 points and he loses 10 points. That is a major shift in voters.
Huge pack of undecideds remain.
Concerns are the same that Matt Stoller points out -- neither candidate is above 50%. There are 28% undecideds. Making the claim that candidates, Jason Jennings and George Mitchell, have made for months -- no one is thrilled with the two leading candidates. Which would explain why an internal poll such as this was not released prior to GOTV weekend. It would given a huge boost to the other candidates.
Prince George's County is a dead heat.
That's the WOW of this poll. If Wynn does not take PG by comfortable the new Congressman will be a Congresswoman. Even the most ardent Wynn supporter never expected him to carry MoCo, so winning PG is the key to a Wynn win.
Obama and Clinton are huge to this race.
This poll has 400 likely Democratic voters, which is the normal universe. The universe has changed. Most people figured our Presidential primary would be over on Super Tuesday.
Having a contested Presidential primary is the worst case scenario for Wynn. You have a slew of new voters that may not normally vote in this race showing up on election day. If they are Obama voters they are not his natural voters, even though he beat Edwards to the punch on endorsing the favorite son of PG, Obama.
I witnessed first hand on Monday at the NAACP Debate the impact of a contested Presidential primary. This was in the heart of PG. Wynn country. The overflow crowd was both pro-Obama and pro-Edwards. The Big Mo is on the side of the challenger.
So if you are Wynn you need to suppress voting (legally) and pray that Jack Johnson's machine deliver you a ton of votes.
Will WaPo release a poll as part of its Sunday's news?
I have wondered out loud where is the WaPo on this covering this race. No polls. My roommate got a call from a pollster on Tuesday. If the WaPo is polling for Obama and Clinton it should not be that hard to ask a few questions of those people who reside in CD4. It would be an easy two for one the nation's political newspaper. Sunday would be the perfect day to release.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Latest Wynn-Edwards News
We are into GOTV (Get Out The Vote) weekend and here is some of the latest news from the leading candidates.
This is a robo call sent out on behind of Congressman Wynn. It comes from Open Left's Matt Stoller, who is a supporter of challenger Donna Edwards. Still the robo call undercuts Wynn's argument that he is running a positive campaign.
Baltimore Sun is running an article from UMBC Professor Schaller that dovetails with Stoller's comments. The end of Schaller's comments he calls for the voting Wynn out of office.
From the WaPo blog, Sen. Mikulski is staying out of the race citing her focus on Hillary.
Also from the WaPo, Donna Edwards has endorsed Obama. Wynn endorsed Obama back in mid-January. This confirms that Obama is solidly ahead of Clinton in the DC burbs. Expect both sides to hand out palm cards linking their candidate with Obama.
Of course MPW's own Adam Pagnucco commented on the local elected officials who are endorsing Wynn. It is an impressive list. This also originated in the WaPo blog. Among the comments on their site was an interesting point made by someone known as "lefty". He/she, based on previous comments, is pro-Donna. So take that as you may but the point made was that WaPo reporter, Roz Helderman, headlines the blog piece with a majority of the electeds were there for Wynn. Not true. Wynn has an impressive list of endorsements but it is still not a majority of either delegation.
This race is so close that whomever gets out the GOTV wins. Not that's obvious but so many races are not close coming into GOTV weekend. This one is.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Al Wynn's Closing Statement from the NAACP Debate
This was Congressman Al Wynn's closing statement on the NAACP Debate at PGCC on Monday night. Candidates Michael Babula and Jason Jennings are seated in front of him.
Thanks to Open Left for providing this video. Open Left's Matt Stoller has been covering this race. Thanks Matt. Here is a picture of Matt talking with Congressman Wynn prior to the debate. Check out Matt's blog posting here. 
MoCo/PG State Legislators for Wynn
Maryland Moment's Rosalind Helderman covered a rally in Annapolis for District 4 Congressman Albert Wynn. I encourage everyone to read her piece as it contains details of the remarks made by Senators Mike Miller, Ulysses Currie and Rob Garagiola, all of whom have endorsed Wynn. As part of that coverage, Helderman provided a list of the Montgomery and Prince George's County state legislators who turned out at that rally and we reproduce it here.
Montgomery County State Legislators for Wynn
District 14: Senator Rona Kramer, Delegate Karen Montgomery
District 15: Entire Delegation
District 17: Senator Jennie Forehand
District 19: Senator Mike Lenett, Delegate Ben Kramer
District 39: Entire Delegation
Note: Districts 16 and 17 do not overlap with CD4. District 18 only shares two precincts with CD4.
Prince George's County State Legislators for Wynn
District 21: Senator James Rosapepe, Delegates Ben Barnes and Barbara Frush
District 22: Delegates Anne Healey and Justin Ross
District 23: Delegate Marvin Holmes (23B)
District 24: Senator Nathaniel Exum, Delegate Michael Vaughn
District 25: Senator Ulysses Currie, Delegates Melony Griffith and Dereck Davis
District 26: Senator C. Anthony Muse, Delegate Jay Walker
District 47: Delegate Victor Ramirez
In addition, Helderman noted attendance at the rally by Prince George's County Council Member Will Campos, Former District 39 Senator P.J. Hogan and Betty Weller from the state teachers union, which endorsed Wynn.
Edwards responded by announcing endorsements from Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez (D18), Delegate Joseline Pena-Melnyk (D21) and Edmonston Mayor Adam Ortiz. But this is far from a complete list of her elected supporters.
Notably absent from the Wynn camp are Delegates Herman Taylor (D14, who briefly considered challenging him), Kumar Barve (D17, the House Majority Leader), Luiz Simmons (D17), Senator Paul Pinsky (D22, a staffer of MCEA) and everyone from District 20 (Silver Spring-Takoma Park).
Congressman Wynn is known for his long memory. So are MoCo progressives. That's what makes the above list so interesting.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Fly on the Wall for a joint Wynn-Edwards Interview
Political Pulse Moderator, Charles Duffy, Congressman Al Wynn, Donna EdwardsWe regularly feature Cable Channel 16 Political Pulse's upcoming interviews. This morning was the taping of a joint interview of the two main candidates for the 4th Congressional District:Al Wynn (campaign site) and Donna Edwards. I was a fly on the wall listening off camera.
Both sides should be happy with their candidate's performance. This 30 minute show covered most of the key issues. Along with the recent NOW program on PBS entitled Divided Democrats, this interview is the best use of streaming video to educate the voters. I encourage you to watch.
When Can I See It??
Political Pulse, hosted by Charles Duffy, is on every Thursday night at 9 on Montgomery County Cable Channel 16. There will be a special showing tomorrow night (Super Tuesday at 9:30 pm).
More importantly for those of you who don't have cable and don't want to set the VCR or TiVo there is an even better way to watch it. The WaPo, which I have criticized for its minimal coverage of this race, will have it up on their site as a streaming video. Look for it in the next few days. When I see it there I will alert you.
About Political Pulse
Charles Duffy covers many of the same issues we do here at MPW. If you have cable, I don't.It was either high speed internet or cable for my budget. This is one of the best places to get a solid news without the frills. He is always prepared. He is fair and balanced. Watch it.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
A Chicken In Every Pot
It's that time of the year. T minus 10 days to primary day where attacks pick up their intensity. Last night's Debate at People's Community Baptist Church for the candidates for the Fourth District was the most charged of the three I attended. Fortunately for the incumbent most of the charges were focused on his principal rival.
The blogosphere has not been kind to Incumbent Al Wynn. So this may be the first words to highlight his positives. 
This was his night. His skills as a debater came through in spades. The former coach of the Howard University Debate team was on. He had position all night (being the first one to speak in opening and the last one to speak during closing) using both to great effect. The questions favored him. Others made charges against his principle rival, Donna Edwards, sparing him the trouble. No one except her called on him to explain some of his votes. It was the perfect storm of a debate for the incumbent. Edwards had to feel as if it was four against one, with the genial George McDermott refraining from the testosterone festival.
Wynn's Perfect Storm
In his opening statement Wynn took time to honor Marilyn Praisner's work getting all to stop what they were doing to give her a moment of silence. Classy move. He had held his own during the Q&A. None of the questions highlighted his vulnerabilities. He also got a major assist from Dr. Michael Babula, who laid into his principle challenger Donna Edwards early. Jason Jennings and George Mitchell (note link is broken) bunched Wynn and Edwards together on multiple occasions blurring the lines. Al Wynn completed the night by having the final word in closing statement. Harking back "to the old days where politicians promised a chicken in every pot" to voters, Wynn compared what he has done in office to the lack of accomplishments by his opponents.
"She disgusts me"
The first question was on campaign finance and special interest money. Babula, pictured to the lower left, speaking after Edwards and before Wynn went after the former with a vengeance. 
Sounding as if he was reading from the recently filed Wynn complaint against Edwards centered on soft money and 527s, Babula, a former Republican candidate in his native New Jersey, highlighted perceived connections between 527s and her campaign ending with the subhead quote above.
Other Observations
Mitchell, pictured to the right, sounding as if he was the Pastor of this powerful
Baptist church, charged you can't continue to elect the same people and expect different results. He called Wynn and Edwards "two peas in a pod". Babula piggybacked on Mitchell and called Edwards "a wolf in sheep's clothing" and Wynn "a wolf dressed up as a grandmother".
Why the Increase in Charges?
These increases in charges are common and expected. The further down you are in the race the greater the intensity. The closer to the election the greater intensity. This is a race where no one knows who is ahead. We have a crowded six person race. No public polls to digest. No leaked candidates polls. So this is moving time. You either move up or you move out. The uncertainty of the race has all but the main players fighting for their place in the sun.
This is the second debate inside a week where Edwards served as the pinata 
for her male opponents. There were numerous times a finger was pointed and charges directed at her as if she was the eight term incumbent. When people talked of change it was as if she was the one blocking change. Her attempts at connecting with the voters was lost in a sea of "they are both the same".
Debates, or forums as we like to call these things in the 21st century, are just a small part of an overall campaign. More people will read these words than were in attendance. So hopefully, my recollections match others. All sides will spin to highlight their candidate. It will be tough for Edwards to "win" another debate if the attacks continue. Wynn used his oratory skills to great effect. He defended his positions without being defensive. It was the best I had seen him in several debates over two election cycles.
What's Next
The candidates have another debate at PG Community College on Monday evening. I would expect more of the same. Also expect to see and hear more interviews on cable and radio in the coming week.
General Observations After Three Debates
Having sat through three debates and interviews with all candidates but Wynn (still waiting Congressman) here is a thumbnail sketch of the candidates, so far.
George McDermott (pictured to the left), the longest of long shots, continues to bark at a corrupt judicial system and wants you "to throw the bums out of office". He may not win but he is a decent and honest man who is determined to speak out against the faults of our judicial system as he sees it.
Jason Jennings (pictured to the right), who has not mastered the sound bite, has a theme of 'us, working folks vs. them, the rich'. He is the only candidate who was educated in local schools from kindergarten to graduate school. Jennings wants to be a different legislator than you have seen previously. He wants to not just change the representation in this district but he wants to change the way Congress operates completely.
George Mitchell wants you to know that he will speak out for the children. Not that others won't but he will be the first and the most vocal. His facts sometimes are off (e.g., when he mentions the district is 85% PG and almost 20% MoCo meaning the district equals 105% or he cites campaign contribution percentages for his opponents that don't match the public record) but Mitchell gives a good speech. You can tell he has not missed too many Sunday sermons. His cadence is good.
Mike Babula, the newest of the newcomers, wants you to know that without a serious change in our fiscal & monetary policy we face an economic future that rivals Independence Day. He may be right; but it is not the type of message that inspires. He also has some of the more libertarian views on drug control, education, health care, gun control, and foreign policy, though he will reject the use of that label. Somewhere the far right meets the far left and that seems to be where he resides.
Donna Edwards wants you to know that she has been where many have been -- a single parent, without health insurance, trying to raise a son -- all while serving as a public interest advocate. Outside of the Congressman, she is only person who can point to several accomplishments for the public good.
Al Wynn wants you know that he is not about promises but about results. His results speak for themselves though others may disagree. He claims "transparency" on campaign finance. He wants both universal education and universal health care. He sounds as if he got the message in 2006 and is willing to become a more vocal advocate for the district.
All candidates claim to be the latest agent of change in the year of change.
We are in a for wild 10 days sprint to the election. It is All in The Family now.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Wynn Files a Complaint Against Edwards
Here is the latest flying across the internet about Wynn's charge against Edwards. He filed a 34 point complaint with the FEC claiming that Donna Edwards was in violation of campaign finance laws. I don't claim to know all aspects of campaign finance. But I am working on finding out more. In the meantime, here is a summary of the stories making the rounds.
The WaPo article seems to just get quotes and reacts and doesn't really explain the issue. It is complicated. But it is a disappointing piece if you want to know the story. A swing and miss from our local paper.
The Baltimore Sun did a story as well. They had the Campaign Legal Center, a non-profit that focuses on campaign finance, review the compliant. CLC dismisses the compliant.
WaPo's corporate cousin, the Gazette, also wrote about it. I can't tell where the Post ends and this one begins. Must have lifted the same key points. Strike two for Team Graham.
The DC Examiner also weighs in. It too is a simple "he said, she said" story that does nothing to explain a complicated issue. So the Post and Gazette are off the hook, sort of.
Our friends at Free State Politics (FSP), who make clear that they are supporters of Donna, trumpet the Sun article and trash the WaPo one. Author Isaac Smith refutes the charges against Donna.
Politicker MD, one of the newer blogs in the state, does a nice job of giving Wynn's side of the story. This helpful for those of us not versed in campaign finance law. In fact, I think they took the time that the Post and Gazette could have but didn't.
Finally, FSP refers back to a MyDirectDemocracy piece, which is written by Matt Stoller immediately after the 2006 primary. Matt is now with Open Left. To say Matt is a strong supporter of Donna would be an understatement. Here is Matt's post from today.
I am working on digging into it myself but until I hear from the principles I will refrain from adding anymore.
What is unusual about the story is the timing of it. We are about to get the Jan 30 FEC reports. Not certain if the January reports will be released prior to the primary.
Last week I posted that the WaPo was not covering the race. With today's news I may have to back up a bit. But considering how poorly they are covering this race, I won't back up too much.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Hold That Mfume Endorsement of Donna
Seems the story of former Senate candidate Kweisi Mfume endorsing Donna Edwards was just a bit too premature. Look at this story from the DC Examiner.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Even More Wynn and Edwards News
It is a six person race but tonight's PBS broadcast of NOW will highlight the race between Al Wynn and Donna Edwards. The program is called Divided Democrats. It will air at 10:00 PM tonight and after the program go to the link above and watch it online.
A Note on Labor Endorsements in CD4
Here's a quick observation from a labor guy on union endorsements in the Wynn-Edwards race.
The labor movement has been unusually divided between the top two contenders in CD 4: Al Wynn, the incumbent and Donna Edwards, the returning challenger. Wynn's biggest labor endorsers are the MSTA/NEA funds (the state teachers), the Washington Metro AFL-CIO, the Maryland-DC AFL-CIO, SEIU Local 400 (Prince George's local schools employees), AFSCME Local 2250 (Prince George's government employees) and the Washington DC Building Trades. Edwards' endorsers include the national SEIU, the national UNITE-HERE, UFCW Local 400 (grocery workers) and Progressive Maryland. She has also earned important non-labor endorsements from NOW, the Sierra Club and Emily's List.
When labor unions endorse, they bring either money, people power or both. In the Wynn-Edwards race, both of the leading candidates have enough money to compete. And both of them already have lots of name recognition in the district. So the labor endorsements that will matter the most will come from unions that 1. have lots of members in the district, 2. can get their members to turn out, and 3. have volunteers that can handle other tasks on behalf of the campaigns, including communication with non-members.
On the Wynn side, the most meaningful endorsements come from the Teachers. Both MCEA and PGCEA use Apple Ballots in their campaigns. But there are real questions as to whether either Apple Ballot will be used for a federal race and whether either affiliate will truly work hard for Wynn. On the Edwards side, the most meaningful endorsements come from UFCW Local 400 (grocery workers), the national SEIU and especially Progressive Maryland. PM has a large email list and engages in plenty of door-to-door work. But it will have to be just as active in Prince George's as it usually is in Montgomery to maximize its impact for Edwards.
So my best guess is that if the Teachers go all-out for Wynn, he'll have the edge. If they don't, PM will give the edge to Donna Edwards. But labor support is only one small dimension in this race. The overriding factors will be the level of satisfaction with Wynn inside the district and the relative skill each side shows in getting turnout. And the minor candidates could drain a few votes from Edwards, though none has yet demonstrated real strength in the district.
Two other interesting facts stand out. First, the 7000-member UFCW Local 1994 (the MoCo government employees) has not endorsed either candidate. Second, it is extremely unusual for a local union (SEIU Local 400) to take an opposite position from its parent. I cannot recall this happening inside my union, where the international and the regional councils closely align. It is probably a sign of the unusual volatility and strong feelings in this particular race.
Planned Parenthood endorses Rep. Wynn
Planned Parenthood Federal PAC endorsed Congressman Al Wynn yesterday.
"Al Wynn has a long history of advocating for women's health and is a strong supporter of a woman's right to choose. He is a solid pro-choice vote in the US Congress and I am thrilled that the Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed him." Patricia Shields, Board Member, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington Action Fund
To see the full campaign announcement click.
This does two things: it undercuts into Donna Edwards' mantle as the progressive candidate, especially among those who are advocates of reproductive rights, and it is also a signal that the incumbent has voted "correctly" on all of the issues of Planned Parenthood. National organizations are highly unlikely to back a challenger if the incumbent has voted with them most of the time.
We are starting to see the faults lines based on endorsements. Wynn gets Planned Parenthood and NARAL; Donna Edwards gets EMILY's List. Wynn gets the SEIU Local 400 endorsement but Edwards gets SEIU's national endorsement.
I fully expect to see more endorsements that seem to cut both ways.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Glover Fits, Acquits; Mine Don't
In a whirlwind of activity that lasted no more than thirty minutes, actor Danny Glover came out to support Donna Edwards the principal challenger in a six person race with Rep. Albert Wynn at the New Carrolton Metro stop.
Congress "needs passionate people who are engaged in the body politic," stated Glover in his endorsement of Edwards. For a man used to the bright lights of Hollywood, Glover felt at home mingling with well wishers, campaign staff, assembled media, a beaming candidate and yes even the occasional voter in the dimly lit entrance to the Orange Line station.
Amateur photographers such as this fair blogger need not worry about lighting as a steady steam of flash cameras going off and TV lights covering every step made each shot a cinch. If there was to have been a fire drill no one could have passed such was the crowd that gathered to listen Glover, a one-time student of American University and a former city government worker. In fact that is the reason I switched from reporter to cameraman as the crowd made it difficult to hear all comments from both headliners. I have also not mastered the act of shorthand while wearing thick winter gloves on top of fighting a runny nose.
As a veteran of the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary where candidates and celebrities mix calmly among the voters and reporters last night's event was the Congressional equivalent.
These photo ops are usually not about targeting likely voters. You have no idea if the audience are: in your district, registered and then willing to come out for you. But you still do it because they create news, it is easy to find volunteers to staff it and you have a built-in buzz for those around the campaign.
Still her message of change to this Metro throng matched the national candidates as well on the same day that 8 term incumbent endorsed the leading change candidate.
Maryland may not be a player on the national stage come primary but this race might well be our personal Super Tuesday.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
That Other Congressional District
Most MoCo residents live in Congressional District 8 (I do) and therefore are represented by Chris Van Hollen. But almost a third of the county residents are located in Congressional District 4 (CD4) and therefore are represented by Al Wynn (official site). Ok and those people of Damascus are in yet a third district. But with 29 days to the primary I thought it would educational to meet and interview all of the six candidates running in the Democratic primary in CD4, where we will the potential to have the closest primary contest in the state.
Last election cycle, a mere 17 months ago, there were two challengers to Rep. Wynn (campaign site): Donna Edwards and George McDermott, between the two challengers they had a plurality of the votes. Not a good sign for an incumbent. The closeness of that race has spawned three additional candidates: George Mitchell, Jason Jennings and Michael Babula making for a crowded six person race. To help sort through things I thought it would be helpful to set down with each of them and get their opinions on the key issues.
So beginning this week I will be interviewing the candidates and posting here. Let me know if there are any questions that I should pose to the candidates. No below the belt comments, please there are other blogs for that.
First up will be the only newcomer in the race: Upper Marlboro Businessman George Mitchell.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Deadline for Herman Taylor: Are You In or Out?
Editor: He is out. So you can stop reading here and go to the WaPo posting on it. Heck, enjoy my ever so thoughtful posting 2 hours prior to his withdrawal. ;)
Normally December is a quite time for us political types: time to do some holiday shopping, watch a football game in quite, catch your breath from a previous fall campaign, maybe even rake a few leaves. Not this year. Today is the deadline for the February 12th primary, so the State Board of Elections has been swamped with last minute filing deadlines, with 9:00 p.m. being the bewitching hour.
So besides candidates for President and their pledged delegates, there are deadlines for candidates to Congress. In our area, the big primary race is in Congressional District 4, which is a hybrid of Prince George's and Montgomery County. The incumbent, Albert Wynn, has drawn so far, four challengers: Donna Edwards. George Mitchell, George McDermott, and Jason Jennings.
The big news last week was the WaPo report that District 14 Delegate Herman Taylor (official government site) was considering a run. Well, today is decision day for Herman Taylor (Delegate campaign site).
Well as of 2:00 p.m., the State Board of Elections in Annapolis does not have a petition from Herman Taylor.
But if he does enter the race and he remains a Delegate will he be able to campaign & raise money during a General Assembly Session? Back in 1992, when the Congressional District was created one of the candidates, if my aging memory serves me, was then-Delegate Dana Dembrow, who decided NOT to raise money during the legislative session and it may have cost him his chance. But that is another story.
The question is: Can Delegate Taylor raise the $300,000 he claims is being promised to him in the 70 days remaining to make this a "go"? If the answer is "no" then why run? If the answer is "yes" then we will hear in the next few hours.
As I hear more I will report.
