Finally, Some Good News

Image credit: Donna Edwards campaign

It may not feel like much consolation after watching the disgusting spectacle of our Senate selling our civil rights to the highest bidder, but at least one vile, and embarassing presence will be removed from the Congress today. Donna Edwards, a Blue America candidate, is way ahead of incumbent Al Wynn. At this moment, 9:00 PM PST, she's ahead 59 to 37 percent, with 51 percent of the precincts reporting. Wynn will have to stage an unbelievable comeback to win this one.

Wynn has been a first class corporate shill over his too-long career. In this election cycle, he's received support from both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Despite this, Edwards has been leading in most polls recently, and was endorsed by The Washington Post.

The Washington Post has now called the election for Donna Edwards. This quote from that article sums up why progressives are happy with this result:

Wynn angered progressives nationally by crossing party lines on several key votes and by accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate donations, including thousands in the closing days before the election.

When Edwards, the director of a well-known foundation that hands out grants to progressive causes, came within 3.3 percentage points of beating Wynn in 2006, national activists saw the race as an opportunity to send a message that they would hold wayward Democrats accountable.

Md. Challenger Edwards Wins Stunning Victory Over Long-Time Incumbent Wynn

I've observed quite often in the last couple of years that until the progressive grassroots can prove they can hurt Democratic candidates as well as help them, many Democratic politicians won't take us seriously. Today, we proved we can hurt them. In the days ahead, we'll start to see what that means.

Disclosure: I've given money to the Donna Edwards campaign.