Moe Lane of Redstate on the two successful primary challenges in Maryland, February 13, 2008:

First off, congratulations to soon-to-be-Rep. Donna Edwards - it is merely a hand, madam; you will not be infected with neo-conservatism by shaking it - and soon-to-be-Rep. Andy Harris. Nice job on both your parts: it's not easy to successfully challenge an incumbent in the primary, so well done. Get used to being paired together, by the way: we're not used to two successful challenges in the same State, so the media will probably talk about both of you at the same time for a while.

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Second, to the netroots: congratulations, and thanks! The congratulations are for being able to successfully replace a popular moderate Democrat with a more progressive one, in a seat that is almost assuredly going to stay Democrat after November. The thanks are for exactly the same thing; you've also replaced an experienced, moderate Democrat with a reputation for reaching out across the aisle with an inexperienced, partisan Democrat who probably won't (for a few years at least). We were scratching our heads over whether or not Wynn losing his seat was a bad thing anyway; nice to have that resolved for us.

I think Moe Lane's conservative analysis makes sense. My only objection is that Donna Edwards is very gracious and would gladly shake his hand, I am certain.

It was Tom DeLay's (and Jack Abramoff's) K Street Project that created much of the raw partisan (as opposed to policy) animosity on the Hill. Democrats typically don't play the ruthless political game as well as the Republicans, as evidenced by Reid the Mortician's failure of leadership in both substantive decisions and tone, the latter being perhaps more important. A truly Democratic Senate (i.e. 52 Democrats excluding Lieberman) and a Democratic President with a Democratic House probably won't be as raw and nasty in partisanship as Tom DeLay was. Frankly, I could see Representatives Edwards and Harris deliberately crafting bills together just to get attention as the insurgent newbies; Moe Lane is dead-on correct that they will be compared to each other as long as (and if) they both hold office. My analysis assumes that Harris will, in fact, prevail. Edwards is automatic for the office in MD-4 de facto while Frank Kratovil, Jr. for the Democrats in District 1 is a serious underdog but no joke.