Wynn works down to the wire

MITCHELLVILLE- Distributing last minute leaflets outside Kingsford Elementary School this morning, shaking hands, hugging voters, working his cellphone, offering coffee in the cold, operating overtime, U.S. Rep. Al Wynn showed every indication he knows he's in a battle here on Election Day.

"This is a contest between a candidate - myself - who has a record of getting things done, versus someone who's focused on ideology," said Wynn of his bitter 4th District re-election scrap and part two square-off with dogged attorney/activist Donna Edwards, who in some polls is beating the incumbent by as many as seven points.

Voters arrived by the carload. Every space was taken at 8 a.m. when a man in an SUV did a k-turn and backed onto the grass to obtain the one spot remaining. Inside the school, a long line of people was backed down a hallway from the polling place in the gym. The line bent and headed up the same hallway.

"I'm not surprised that voter turnout is so good, considering what's at stake," said Chief Judge Rhonda Pierce of the Prince George's County Board of Elections.

Still working the voters outside at the edge of where candidates are allowed to electioneer, Wynn said the biggest difference in this race from his previous elections is indeed turnout.

"It's already big, definitely," said the congressman. "I got here at 6:45, and it's been steady. It's going to be turnout."

Both candidates hope for a Barack Obama bounce. The presidential candidate is beating Sen. Hillary Clinton by double digits in Maryland, but while Wynn appeared on Geraldo Rivera over the weekend to make the case for Obama, Edwards this morning on her campaign website featured a picture of herself greeting a beaming Obama at yesterday's rally in College Park.

"She's tried to catch onto Obama's coattails," Wynn said of his opponent. "But the difference is Obama's very qualified. Another thing - Obama's message is one of unity. He wants to bring together Democrats, Republicans and Independents. But my opponent, she's talking to the progressives, a very small network of ideologues."

After working the incoming crowd a little longer, the congressman planned to go inside to vote. Then he was going to go to his campaign headquarters to work the phones.