Peter James

COLLEGE PARK -- U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) dropped into Maryland Thursday to show his support for five of Maryland's Republican Congressional candidates. The event -- designed to raise cash for the candidates' campaigns -- was held at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland in College Park.

Paul, who made an unsuccessful bid for president in 2008, says a lot of enthusiasm resulted from the campaign.

Ron Paul (R-Texas) will publicly endorse Maryland's Republican candidates for U.S. House at a fundraiser on Thursday.

Each candidate has been invited to speak at the rally. Richard Matthews (MD-2), Peter James (MD-4), Collins Bailey (MD-5) and Mike Hargadon (MD-7) have all confirmed.

U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards received a thumbs up from her Republican opponent, Peter James, for her vote against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The U.S. House failed on Monday to pass the $700 billion bailout package for the financial sector, prompting markets to post record losses.

Edwards (D-Fort Washington) voted against the bill yesterday, splitting with the majority of Democrats in Maryland's Congressional delegation. Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Baltimore) also voted against the measure.

U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Fort Washington) received her first two committee assignments on Thursday. The House’s newest member will serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Science and Technology Committee.

“These are two tremendous committee assignments,” said Edwards in a statement. “I would like to thank my colleagues for the opportunity to serve on these committees. We face serious challenges and I look forward to immediately getting to work on these committees in order to help my district and our country move in a new direction.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressed confidence in Edwards.

We feel like someone mentioned this along the way (The Gazette perhaps?), but NPR's Ken Rudin digs up this piece of history (and campaign button) about Fourth district Republican Peter James.

The current Peter James, who lost to Donna Edwards (D) on June 17 to fill the seat vacated by Albert Wynn (D), is 52 years old. The senior Peter James ran not against [Spiro] Agnew in '66 but in the GOP primary in 1970, after Agnew had gone off to become vice president. That James lost the primary to Agnew's administrative assistant, Stanley Blair, who in turn got crushed by Democrat Marvin Mandel in November.

LANHAM-- Rep.-elect Donna Edwards (D-Fort Washington) addressed a large crowd of supporters during a victory rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 26 headquarters in Lanham, this evening.

An upbeat and excited Edwards pledged to "get to work" on a day when she defeated Republican Peter James in a special election to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of Al Wynn.

"We're excited about the victory and Ms. Edwards looks forward to representing the people of Maryland's 4th Congressional District," Edwards' Communications Director Dan Weber told PolitickerMD.com.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Mechanicsville) introduced Edwards, saying he was excited to have her as a "colleague."

High-tech developer Peter James (R-Germantown) spoke with PolitickerMD.com following his loss to Donna Edwards (D-Fort Washington) in today's special election in Maryland's 4th Congressional District.

"It looks like people aren't interested in politics," James said, referring to the extremely low turnout figures today.

The district, which encompasses portions of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, reported low turnout throughout the day.

"When people don't come to vote-there's not much you can do," James explained, saying he was
"perplexed" by the lack of interest in the race.

Representative-elect Donna EdwardsWith most of the vote in, Donna Edwards has decisively won the special election to fill former Rep. Al Wynn's vacant seat in the Fourth congressional district.

With all of Montgomery County and 65 percent of Prince George's County precincts in, Edwards leads Republican Peter James approximately 80% to 20%.

State Republican Chairman James Pelura has been e-mailing the party faithful over the last few days, trying to drum up some GOP turnout in today's solidly-Democratic Fourth district special election.

Today's missive noted, "Turnout is extremely low today and your vote could make the difference! Every vote counts."

It's never going to happen, but if Peter James won this thing... well, it's never going to happen.

Still, politics would be nothing without some good two-party competition from time to time. It's nice to see even the smallest efforts.