Tag: MD-04

12:03 am EST: 51% now recorded in MD-04, and Edwards is up 59-37. Gilchrest has fallen further behind, 41-35, with 55% in. Would be interesting to see two incumbents in the same state lose on the same night.

11:37 pm EST: MD-01 has tightened up, with Gilchrest behind 39-36 with about half the vote in. Edwards has a 22-point lead with around 40% of precincts reporting.

11:22 pm EST: 59-36 Edwards with 39% in.

11:16 pm EST: I almost forgot about Wayne Gilchrest’s primary in MD-01. Right now, he’s losing 42-31 with 23% of the vote in. Not looking good. A Gilchrest loss would drive the GOP ever further to the right.

11:08 pm EST: 58-38 Edwards with 31% in.

Follow the results here. With 11% reporting, Donna Edwards is up 55-42 over Al Wynn. Keep your fingers crossed.

Less than a week after Emily’s List broke with its protocol and endorsed netroots heroine Donna Edwards over corporate Dem incumbent Rep. Al Wynn, NARAL Pro-Choice America responds by formally endorsing Wynn:

“In the 15 years that he has represented his district in Congress, Rep. Wynn has voted pro-choice 126 times on 127 votes that dealt with women’s reproductive health,” NARAL President Nancy Keenan said in a statement.

NARAL could have joined ranks with the broader progressive and netroots groups propelling Edwards.  Instead, they are endorsing a man with the following track record of corporate activism:

Wynn voted for the resolution authorizing Bush to use force in Iraq (aka the AUMF)

He voted for the odious bankruptcy bill

He voted for the 2005 energy bill, which was little more than a huge mess of subsidies for Dick Cheney’s oil buddies

He co-sponsored the anti-net neutrality COPE Act and also voted against Rep. Ed Markey’s pro-net neutrality amendment to the bill

One of these groups seems to understand what movement building means; the other clearly doesn’t.

One of the first candidates of the 2008 cycle that we added to the Blue Majority ActBlue list was Donna Edwards. By now, I’m sure many Swing State Project readers are intimately familiar with this race. Maryland’s 4th CD is a whopping D+30. By way of contrast, there isn’t a single red district that’s this Republican (UT-03 is R+26), so you know this is extremely solid blue ground.

And it should, therefore, be home to a loyal team player, a progressive leader who has the luxury of taking bold stands which also happen to be perfectly in tune with his or her constituents. After all, you don’t vote 78% for John Kerry and hope you wind up with a Lieberdem representing you.

But sadly, that just about describes Al Wynn. If you looked at his voting record alone and were feeling extremely charitable, you might imagine he sits in a precarious seat. Of course, it’s not even close – but take a look at a few of the gems he’s managed to rack up on his resume:

• Wynn voted for the resolution authorizing Bush to use force in Iraq (aka the AUMF)
• He voted for the odious bankruptcy bill
• He voted for the 2005 energy bill, which was little more than a huge mess of subsidies for Dick Cheney’s oil buddies
• He co-sponsored the anti-net neutrality COPE Act and also voted against Rep. Ed Markey’s pro-net neutrality amendment to the bill

Needless to say, MD-04 deserves a lot better. And that’s why Blue Majority – along with a wide array of other blogs and coalitions – is supporting Donna Edwards. Edwards, you may recall, pummelled Wynn within an inch of his political life last year – as a mostly unknown, surprise challenger, she came within just 3.5% of victory.

Next year, Edwards – a bonafide movement progressive – has the chance to finish the job. Wynn, who somnambulated through his last election, has sensed the threat and called in some big establishment guns to raise mega-bucks for him this weekend. The netroots are pushing back, with the goal of raising $100,000 for Edwards by Sunday.

Many hands, as they say, make light work, and I think, on the strength of this broad blogosphere-wide push, we can hit this goal. Donations of any size help, and with the primary still ten months away, small donor list-building is still a valuable exercise, especially for an insurgent candidate like Edwards. So if you can pitch in, please do so!

And, as always, if you’re able to give, please let us know about it in comments.