MD-04: One Day For A Better Democrat

The Washington Post actually endorsed Donna Edwards this weekend, and it's a good article:

For her part, though, Ms. Edwards, a lawyer and foundation executive, 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.

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.

These may be the votes that pissed me off more than any in the Bush era: the estate tax, the energy bill, the Schiavo vote, flag-burning, and you can add the Iraq war and the bankruptcy bill. Wynn is a horrible Democrat, particularly in a district which is so reliably liberal. He relies on low-information voters, and tomorrow he's relying on a bunch of new Obama voters that know nothing about him and will just pull the lever for the incumbent. Also, there are a lot of other candidates in the race to splinter the vote and keep Wynn going.

Edwards almost beat Wynn two years ago. I really hope she can pull it off.