By Scott Shewfelt
Capital News Service
Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Democratic candidates in Maryland's 4th District agree on one point: Money alone will not determine the party's nominee.

After that, agreements are few and far between.

Incumbent Rep. Al Wynn is promising an "elbow-grease" campaign, despite having raised more than $500,000, while challenger Donna Edwards, who said she has raised $250,000, believes Wynn's voting record will trump any financial advantage he enjoys.

Edwards has aggressively attacked the seven-term incumbent's voting record, particularly chiding his votes for the Iraq war and his environmental record.

Wynn has responded angrily, defending his record while calling Edwards a spectator who has never had to cast a vote, and criticizing the fact that the bulk of her money has come from out-of-state individuals.

"Unfortunately I'm not infallible like Ms. Edwards because she has never had to cast a vote," Wynn said.

Edwards has been only too happy to point out Wynn's fallibilities. She is particularly critical of his vote for the Iraq war, a vote that Wynn now concedes was a mistake.

The war is an absolute failure and Wynn cannot run from that, Edwards said, pointing to the recent primary defeat of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat and a vocal supporter of the war, by an anti-war challenger.

"Lieberman-type Democrats are not going to last," Edwards said. "Mr. Wynn is Maryland's Joe Lieberman."

Wynn said he was not the only Democrat to vote for the war and that he acknowledged two years ago that it was a mistake. Since that acknowledgement, he said, he has advocated for troop removal, attacked the Bush administration and said that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should be fired.

The sparring is likely to continue. Edwards said she will use her campaign money to continue aggressively reaching out to voters who want a change.

Edwards' latest filing with the Federal Election Commission showed that she had raised more than $190,000 and still had $99,282 in the bank as of June 30. She said the total has since grown to $250,000, but the next FEC filing deadline is not until the end of the month.

A third Democrat, George McDermott, now in his second bid to unseat Wynn, had not raised the minimum $5,000 by June 30 that would have required a report with the FEC. He believes he can win with as little as $40,000, but acknowledges that, "Money gives all kind of advantages, like better media access for one."

Wynn reported raising $522,075 and having $464,739 on hand, according to the FEC.

McDermott attributed Wynn's lead to money from lobbyists: Nearly half of Wynn's cash came from political action committees.

For his part, Wynn questions Edwards' funding sources, saying that while 72 percent of his individual contributions have been from Maryland, only 4 percent of hers have been.

But Wynn downplays his overall financial advantage.

"Money alone will not win a race and I'm not relying on money, I'm going to win on elbow grease," Wynn said.

That's probably wise, said Matthew A. Crenson, professor of urban government and American political development at Johns Hopkins University.

"Money is overrated," Crenson said, adding that the big winners in political campaigns are the television stations that reap the advertising revenue.

"It's not just a matter of ads, you need good ads," said Crenson, who added that in this race the most important thing for voters is whether Wynn got his position on Iraq right soon enough.

Wynn said he is "very confident" about the race. Edwards and McDermott are optimistic, too.

Still, said Crenson, "It's going to be very hard to unseat Wynn." He noted that 95 percent of incumbents who run for re-election win.

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