I am at the Rockville headquarters of the Donna Edwards campaign. Actually 100 yards away, getting my own coffee at a Caribou so as not to take what's reserved for the workers who worked in the icy mess. It is cold, wet, icy and miserable, and so am I. Took me an hour to get here from Silver Spring. I am also sick and exhausted, coming down with my annual obnoxious chest cold, it would appear.

The mood here is lightly busy, not too much to report. Since the Board of Elections extended poll hours to 9:30 PM due presumably to the weather, we don't know anything locally. Some nice people, a lot of very nice young people, a few activists and professionals from the liberal advocacy community. And if both the weather and my chest weren't so miserable I could enjoy myself.

Tomorrow postings will be light. I have to run a gauntlet in the DC area tomorrow.

The first is to get as many overtime hours in at Metro Center as possible by about 1:15 PM. That means probably a 4:45 AM wake-up to arrive by 7.

Then it's off to a training session with the Donna Edwards campaign legal team in Landover. I am pleased to volunteer my help with that effort, not as "practicing law" per se but as an observer. Many elections have irregularities and this one will likely be no exception, if last year's controversies are a guide. They will assign me a precinct for this coming Tuesday, ideally somewhere within a tolerable commute from New Carrollton or Greenbelt.

Then it's off to Gaithersburg for dinner with a friend. Upshot: postings probably won't happen tomorrow.

Does Congressman Al Wynn keep a coin changer on his belt to assist with his fundraising efforts? As Matt Stoller put it, the PACmen don't even realize how repulsive it is to send out an invitation with a whole mess of explicitly named PACs in the header.

Go Donna Edwards! By any political logic, sapphire-blue MD-4 should be represented by a member of the House Progressive Caucus, not by a blatant corporate shill.

Remember how Republicans like Rick Santorum and Allen Raymond ran Green party candidates in elections to split the liberal vote and artificially engineer victory? Well conservative Democrat Al Wynn appears to be pursuing a similar strategy to hold onto his own seat for the upcoming primary.

[cross posted with links at Freestate Politics http://www.freestatepolitics.us/showDiary.do?diaryId=1003]

For a district where President Bush scored about 21% of the vote both in 2000 and 2004, Maryland's 4th Congressional district, covering much Prince George's County and Montgomery County, is home to one of the highest concentrations of liberals in the country. The member of Congress representing the 4th, Albert Wynn, however, is no liberal. Though he maintains high marks on some liberal voting record surveys, a close observation of his record reveals that on vital legislation, he sides consistently with Republicans and big business interests.