MARYLAND HAS A VERY IMPORTANT PRIMARY CONTEST THIS TUESDAY-- AND IT'S NOT ABOUT HILLARY AND OBAMA

Donna Edwards: Let's hope she runs for president one day

To say that Donna Edwards is one of Blue America's "favorite" candidates this year, is quickly borne out by a glance at our donation page. The over $60,000 we have contributed to her campaign this year is considerably higher what we have given to any of our other great candidates. In many ways Donna has been the ideal candidate, a grassroots progressive reformer imbued with the values and principles needed not just to be a stellar representative, but also to help build a national progressive movement.

I was, of course, overjoyed that today's Washington Post endorsed her bid to oust corrupt corporate pawn Al Wynn in Tuesday's Maryland primary. The endorsement points out that Donna "has been an effective, energetic advocate for a range of liberal causes -- the environment, higher minimum wages, stemming domestic violence, campaign finance reform. As a community organizer, she has been an unstinting voice for improving mass-transit options, although sometimes at the expense of building roads that the 4th District badly needs. Even in cases where she clashed with local developers, however, she won their respect as a sensible and no-nonsense adversary. Poised, persistent and principled, she would make a fine representative for the 4th District." The reasons they give though for dumping the incumbent brings me to something very important in their editorial-- and it isn't just about Wynn.

Mr. Wynn has long touted what he regards as a pragmatic ability to work across partisan lines. We're all for bipartisanship, but in Mr. Wynn's case, too often his stances have been unthinking and out of step with his district's interests. His vote to scrap the estate tax suggested he was indifferent to his own middle-class constituents. By flip-flopping on fuel-efficiency standards and opposing campaign finance reforms, he showed his contempt for clean air and clean government. And he seems scarcely aware of the import of his votes to permit federal courts to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case and to support a constitutional amendment banning flag-burning: granting federal courts a license to meddle in private affairs and cramping free speech... we think the district can do better and would with Ms. Edwards.

Fine, but I want to skip down to the very last sentence in the editorial, one dealing with someone else running for re-nomination and re-election Tuesday:

In the 5th District, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, who is approaching 30 years in Congress and is now, as the House majority leader, a major political asset for Maryland, faces only token opposition.

This is a problem. Steny Hoyer, far more than Speaker Pelosi, has kept impeachment off the table and accountability just a dream for patriotic Americans. Steny Hoyer, even more than Emanuel, has been responsible for the pathetic lack of resolve among Democrats for dealing effectively with Iraq. Unlike Pelosi, Hoyer openly and aggressively backed Bush's attack on Iraq; now he does it behind the curtain. Hoyer-- and the rest of the Democratic Establishment-- have backed Wynn in this race; Hoyer more than anyone. It is shameful that he-- like Emanuel-- has no progressive primary challenger. Defeating Al Wynn Tuesday is, even apart from electing someone as stellar and awe-inspiring as Donna Edwards, is the closest anyone can come to telling Hoyer in no uncertain terms that we want Congress to end the war in Iraq, something the Post still does not want.

The latest polling from MD-04 predicts a victory for Donna.

A new survey of 400 likely Democratic primary voters in the district shows Donna Edwards leading incumbent Albert Wynn by eight points as we head into the final days of the primary campaign.  Donna Edwards' message of fighting for change and the public interest is winning supporters across the district while less than half (44%) of the voters think that Wynn is doing a good job.

Among the organizations which have defied an adamant and vindictive Insider Establishment of the Democratic Party to endorse Donna are:

SEIU
UFCW Local 400
UNITE HERE
Sierra Club
Progressive Neighbors
Clean Water Action
League of Conservation Voters
Friends of the Earth Action PAC
Progressive Maryland
Progressive Cheverly
Progressive Democrats of America
Democracy for America
Democracy for Montgomery County
Montgomery County Student Government Political Action Committee
EMILY's List
National Organization for Women
MoveOn.org
Feminist Majority Foundation
Women's Campaign Forum
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now! (ACORN) PAC
People for the American Way
and, of course, Blue America.

(Wynn depends on corporate bribes for his campaign but, of course, he has some nice-sounding endorsements too-- the usual hacks and shills of the Insider Establishment, organizations that were founded by idealists and have degenerated into grubby political puppets unworthy of their founders' visions or their members' trust: like NARL and AFSCME, who are always there when Rahm Emanuel or Steny Hoyer snap their fingers, regardless of the impact on their members.)

Donna sums up why she's the better candidate in less than 2 minutes on this clip:




UPDATE: HOW TO HELP DONNA

Matt Stoller is on the ground in MD-04 this week and he says this will all come down to the GOTV effort. He says at this time Donna's campaign needs one thing: volunteers. If you're in the area, they can use warm bodies.