WaPo: As Ballots Are Counted, Wynn's Unbeatable Status Is Questioned

The 4th Congressional District race between Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.) and Donna Edwards may not be decided for several days, but political observers say Edwards's spirited campaign demonstrates a significant erosion of firepower for the seven-term congressman.

With all precincts reporting from Tuesday's Democratic primary, Wynn led Edwards yesterday 50 to 46 percent -- one of the narrowest margins of Wynn's 24-year political career. But thousands of provisional and absentee ballots have yet to be counted with fewer than 3,000 votes separating the two candidates -- enough, Edwards said, to potentially give her the victory.

"You talk about wake-up calls," said Ronald W. Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland. "If you have someone come from nowhere, and it gets this close, it means there's something flawed with his agenda."

The 4th District includes parts of Prince George's and Montgomery counties; the former had more than 5,000 absentee and provisional ballots to count, and the latter had between 16,000 and 18,000 remaining yesterday. It was unclear how many of the ballots were from the areas of the two counties that make up the 4th District.

Edwards, a newcomer to Maryland politics, said she will not concede until every vote is counted.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/14/AR2006091401826.html

Since I favor Edwards and agree with her that Wynn keeps voting with the GOPers, I am so glad she is waiting for the last vote to be counted. Go Edwards!

He hung on by the skin of his teeth against his primary challenger.

Hopefully it'll make him think twice about voting for another free trade bill (Towns is one of the 15 CAFTA traitors)

are on my permanent shit list.

Hopefully the challenger will be still be around in two years for another go-around if Towns doesn't change his CAFTA-like ways.

but i live in the Van Hollen part of Silver Spring

I was thinking about Connie Morrella the other day. She worked hard for your district,
but she was a Republican and Van Hollen was elected a while back. I think he has a bright future.

I voted for Edwards, too. And I'm hoping she wins. But this line at the end of the article explains that, in a very real sense, we've already won:

Yesterday, Broadwater said Wynn will be a "lucky man" if he is able to fend off Edwards. He said Wynn needs to recognize that voters were reprimanding him for betraying his base by voting with Republicans on certain issues and he needs to mend a few fences.

"You pick up a lot of enemies trying to be a broker," Broadwater said. "If he continues to go the way he's going, she's going to be our next congresswoman. . . . He's got to change his ways. He's going to have to spend more time working his district and voting the way his constituency wants."

AMEN!

And was impressive countering the itimidation attempt by C Matthews.

Wynn is my congressman, and I voted for him, but I wouldn't be disappointed if Edwards won. I think we need dynamic candidates, and I am also opposed to the idea that anyone has a "safe" seat. There are others more dissatisfied with Wynn than me, and I am not exactly sure why, but it is widespread, apparently. Edwards is supposed to be a superb campaigner.

I was picking up my wife at Shady Grove Metro last week, and there was Edwards outside shaking her hand, and others getting off the Metro, seeking votes.