On The Ground In Maryland's 4th

by: Chris Bowers

Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 17:10

Just got a call from Matt, who was still clearly talking to voters as he talked to me (Matt shouted "Donna Edwards for Change" at least three times during our one-minute phone call). You have to hand it to Matt: he is really throwing everything he has into this campaign.

Matt says he has been at a polling place all day in Prince George's County, which is Wynn's base area. There are no Wynn people at his polling place, which is bad for Wynn, because there are a lot of undecideds. One element of the Edwards strategy has been to place a lot of people at the polls to target the new Obama voters who don't know anything about the Edwards vs. Wynn primary. Smart move.

Matt also says that turnout is high in both Wynn and Edwards precincts. However, last time, polling places in Montgomery County, Edwards's base, opened five hours late. That did not happen this time, which is good for Edwards.

Also, there were no Obama people are out at Matt's precinct either, which he finds strange.

There are lots of reasons to expect a victory for Donna Edwards tonight, even though my stomach is churning a bit. In truth, because the other primaries today are foregone conclusions (except the Virginia Republican primary), it is probably the biggest election to watch tonight.

Update: One final note: expect wild swings as the results from MD-04 come in tonight. Back in September 2006, Wynn was up by about 20% with 30% reporting, but then Edwards actually managed to take the lead with about 75% reporting. Could be a long, slow, wild night of returns.

Chris Bowers :: On The Ground In Maryland's 4th

Tags: Al Wynn, Donna Edwards, House 2008, MD-04, primary elections, (All Tags)

Print Friendly View

Send As Email

On The Ground In Maryland's 4th | 6 comments

best of luck (0.00 / 0)

to donna, matt, you and everyone else who has been at this race for about two years + now.

getting excited now ...

Tim

by: Tim Tagaris @ Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 16:15:58 PM CST

Yeah (0.00 / 0)

All I could do was donate what little money I could spare. (I can't afford even the gas or plane tickets to get over there) I hope you guys can kick some ass, though! It'd smell just a little better in D.C. I bet, if Wynn's stank ass wasn't polluting the Capitol.

by: BlueLake @ Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 16:24:00 PM CST

There were four Wynn people (0.00 / 0)

at my polling place when I walked in, handing out the "official ballot." The group was breaking up, leaving one guy behind, when I walked out. They had boxes and boxes of the things in one volunteer's car, though.

Ugh.

by: Greg Greene @ Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 16:42:50 PM CST

Maybe we can just fly Luke Esser in (0.00 / 0)

and get him to stop the count sometime when Edwards is up?

Worked for McCain...

by: texas dem @ Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 17:44:00 PM CST

no Obama people at MD polls (0.00 / 0)

I was surprised by that as well but the Obama field guys going from state to state said that they don't do that--instead all gotv volunteers were asked to canvass and call. Since their strategy is so targeted by district the push is to get the Obama people to the polls by calling and walking the neighborhoods. They don't put volunteers at polling places. Interesting.

by: aiko @ Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 18:34:45 PM CST

Another field report (0.00 / 0)

I spent four hours freezing at a precinct near my house (though not my home precinct) in MoCo, handing out Donna literature. Turnout was good (over 25% of registered Dems before 11am, apparently). Several people parroted back Wynn's nasty attack ads at me, but support for Donna seemed pretty widespread. There was one Wynn guy there when I arrived at 9am, but he packed up and left around 10am. There were no Obama or Clinton volunteers, either. Even the teacher's union was pretty much AWOL (just the one at-large candidate in my area, so I guess they didn't feel like it was all that crucial). When I voted this evening, my home polling place was pretty much empty and there were no volunteers for any candidate. Of course, it was 28 degrees and pouring rain and the roads were scary slick...

by: mag @ Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 19:10:30 PM CST